386 DR. J. ANDERSON ON PERSIAN, [Mar. 5, 



Length : snout to vent 2" 4'", 2" 2'", 2" 7'" ; vent to tip of tail 

 3" 7", 3" 10'", 3" 7'"; head 9'", 7'", 9'"; fore limb I" 4'", 1" 3'", 

 1" 5'"; hind limb 1" 10'", 1" 9'", 1" 11'". 



Dentition, upper-jaw, m. 13+13 = 26, can. 1 + 1 = 2, inc. 2 + 2=4. 

 „ lower-jaw, m. 12+ 12=24, can. 1 + 1 = 2, inc. 1 + 1 = 2. 



The external incisor on either side of the upper jaw is much larger 

 than the middle pair, but considerably shorter than the canines, with 

 which they can hardly be classed, although Dumeril and Bibron 

 speak of four canines and two incisors in the upper jaw. 



Hab. Teheran, Persia. 



Dumeril and Bibron state that the tail of the Agama ?nutal>ilis is 

 three times the length of the body, which is certainly not the case 

 with the Trapelus figured by Olivier, to which the above-mentioned 

 specimens appear to belong. 



Phrynocephaiajs olivieri, D. & B. 



The five specimens of the peculiar-looking Lizard which I refer 

 to this species, agree with the original description in all its impor- 

 tant characters. Dumeril and Bibron state, however, "le dessus 

 des membres est recouvert d'ecailles carenees," a character which is 

 not applicable to the limbs of my specimens, inasmuch as only one 

 individual shows a few faintly keeled scales on the tibial portion 

 of its leg. I observe, however, that those specimens which have 

 lost the hard epithelial covering of the scales and become shrivelled 

 have an appearance that might be taken for keeling. It seems pro- 

 bable that Dumeril and Bibron's specimens may have been in this 

 condition ; for in describing the tail, they state that it is " semee de 

 petites vermes," a description applicable to my specimens which 

 have lost their skin, but not to the perfect ones, which have the 

 base of the tail with a few scattered spiny tubercles. These authors 

 describe the scales of the tail as faintly keeled, a character which 

 the specimens before me have as well. 



The number of the labials is very variable ; in one I count 30 

 upper and 30 lower plates, whilst in others the numbers mentioned 

 by Dumeril and Bibron, 27 and 26, prevail. The extent of the va- 

 riation in the upper lip is from 27 to 30, and in the lower from 

 22 to 30. From an examination of a large series of Lizards, both 

 of this and the Geckoid types, I am convinced that the number 

 of labials is not a reliable specific character, although it may be 

 useful as a generic one in a few instances. 



There is another point in connexion with this Lizard worthy of 

 notice, and not referred to by original describers, viz. that there is a 

 rounded eminence on each side of the neck, of larger granules than 

 those surrounding it. It is persistent in all my specimens. Those 

 naturalists have also pointed out that what at first sight might strike 

 an observer as an enlargement and flattening of the root of the tail 

 is a character which depends not so much on the tail itself, but on 

 an enlargement of the body before the vent — which, however, to me 

 appears to swell somewhat behind the vent, and then to contract 



