3/4 DR. J. ANDERSON ON PERSIAN, [Mar. 5, 



two moderately-sized preanal plates surrounded by smaller ones, or 

 all the plates of one size and not enlarged. Femoral pores thirteen 

 or fourteen. Ventrals square, smooth, arranged in transverse rows 

 of fourteen to eighteen scales. 



Yellowish olive-brown above, with a series of yellowish or bluish 

 spots, with black margins along each side of the body, spotted with 

 black on the sides of the head, neck, and body, and on the dorsal 

 surface. Under surface yellowish white. Tail uniform dark olive- 

 green above and below in its two posterior thirds. 



Tip of snout to vent 2 T V' ; vent to tip of tail 3^-" ; snout to oc- 

 ciput yV; anterior limb }§"; posterior limb lyV' ; fourth toe from 

 base of "fifth X". 



Hab. Yarkand. 



I have followed Dumeril and Bibron in regarding this as distinct 

 from Pallas's Lacerta velox and Eichwald's L. argulus, for the 

 reasons stated by the former authors. The specimens before me, 

 although they were obtained in Yarkand, agree in every particular 

 with the description of the types which came from the Crimea. 

 Filippi records E. variabilis, Fitz., as a common species throughout 

 Persia. 



Ophiops elegans, Mene'tries. 



Frontal quadrangular, its anterior margins slightly convex or 

 straight, meeting at an obtuse angle with the two upper shields of the 

 rostral, which separate it from the rostral. Postfrontals either trans- 

 versely triangular, with the base directed outwards, or more or less 

 pentagonal ; in the former case they may or may not form a suture 

 behind the rostral, while in the latter instance they invariably meet 

 in the middle line, and the suture is usually broad. Vertical mode- 

 rately elongate, rounded and rather pointed anteriorly, its margins 

 meeting at an obtuse angle ; lateral margins concave, convergent ; 

 posterior extremity either slightly pointed or transversely truncated. 

 Preoccipitals small, pentagonal, forming a broad suture together 

 with a small lozenge-shaped occipital behind them, with a tumid 

 disk in its centre. A small triangular postoccipital. Two large 

 pentagonal exoccipitals with two linear temporals along the outer 

 margins, the posterior one the smallest ; temporal region below 

 them granular. Three supraciliaries, the anterior one very small, 

 two posterior ones very large, together forming an oval, with a 

 flattened external margin, along which there is a longitudinal row of 

 fine granules. Two or three small almost granular plates behind 

 the posterior one. Two loreals, one before the other, and contri- 

 buting to form the " canthus rostralis ;" the anterior one small. 

 Eight upper labials, the fifth forming the lower support to the eye, 

 with three small labials behind it ; one small shield above the last, 

 separating it from the supraaural plate, which is either oval or ob- 

 long. Eight lower labials with six large shields below, three on 

 each side, the fourth pair from the mental the largest. The throat 

 in some (twelve) specimens shows a distinct fold from ear to ear, 

 while it cannot be detected in others. Scales from occiput to 



