MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



127 



maturity, owing to the death of the mother. This happened in June, 

 and judging from the state of their development, they would not, 1 

 tliiiik, have been born for some weeks. They were quite white, but in 

 every way perfectly termed, including the " tentacles." The genital 

 organs of all the males were extruded, rendering the differentiation of 

 sex an easy matter. In the process of examination, some of them were 

 allowed to become dry so that a count at that point could not be made. 



Length of the mother, 770 mm. 



The costals are counted two heads' lengths behind the head, 

 at mid-body and two heads' lengths before the vent. 



From the above list it will be seen that the number of scales in 

 this species is by no means regular, and in this particular it resembles 

 the true sea-snakes. The ventral shields also are extremel}^ small, 

 being not more than twice the breadth of the adjacent costals. They 

 are sometimes missing entirely, and anteiiorlj^ are indistinguishable 

 from the costals, making a true count difficult. 



MALCOLM SMITH. 



July, 1914. 



No. XV.— NOTE ON A RARE LIZARD, (LYGOSOMA 

 ISODACTYLUM.) 



During the past year I have received or collected nine speci- 

 mens of this rare lizard, previously known only from a single one 



