Miscellaneous. 419 
tail the necessity of preserving a larger number of specimens, and 
may lead to some waste of room. I am satisfied, however, that with 
a proper attention in the selection of the specimens intended as repre- 
sentatives of the genera in the systematic collection, no unnecessary 
repetitions need be made. I have been careful everywhere to avoid 
the introduction of large specimens in the systematic collection, in 
order to render them more comprehensive, and to bring, at a glance, 
a whole class under the eye ; while the bulk of specimens illustrating 
the species are referred to the faunal collections. And I need not 
repeat here what I have stated again and again on other occasions, 
that the great deficiency of other museums, and especially of the 
large public collections, consists in the scanty representation of the 
species and the monotony with which a single male and female, or 
sometimes even a single specimen, are allowed to be the only provi- 
sion made for the study of an animal which, to be well known, ought 
to be examined in an ample series of specimens of all ages, of both 
sexes, and in every possible state of preservation. What are fre- 
quently called characteristic specimens, and paraded singly as types, 
are but too often thus set aside by unscientific keepers of museums, 
in order that they may have an opportunity of disposing of other 
specimens for exchanges, and thus increasing the nominal number of 
the species in their collections. 
On a New Genus of Lizards from Ceylon. 
By W. Peters. 
CopruHotis, nov. gen.* 
By its compressed form, the equal number of its fingers and toes, 
and its concealed tympanum, this genus of [guanoide approaches 
the Ceylonese genera Otocryptis, Lyriocephalus, and Cerato- 
phora. It is readily distinguished from them by the extremely 
fine granulation and keelless texture of the soles of all the feet, by 
the nearly equal length of the third and fourth toes, by the comb of 
scales, which extends along the whole length of the back, by the 
large scales of the tail, and the more produced form of the muzzle. 
It agrees most closely with Ceratophora by the larger scales on the 
sides of the throat, the neck, and the body, and with Lyriocephalus 
in its occipital spine and small postocular spine. 
Cophotis ceylanica, n. sp. 
The head is pyramidal, twice as long as its breadth and height ; 
the muzzle is equal in length to the distance between the eyes. The 
round nostrils open laterally in simple shields, which stand in imme- 
diate connexion with the supralabial shields, and are separated from 
the rostral shield by one or two, and from each other by three series 
of convex scales. Regular, keeled scales, pretty nearly equal in size 
to those occurring on the muzzle, form a supraorbital arch on each 
side; this consists of seven scales, and applies itself to the post- 
orbital spine. The supraorbital arches are separated from each 
* From xkadds, weak; ovs, ards, ear. 
