CORDYLUS (HEMICORDYLUS) CAPENSIS.— Smith. 



Reptilia. Plate XXVII. Fig. 2. 



C. capite, dorso, lateribus, extremitatibus caudaque superne profunde purpureo-brunneis ; gutture, pectore, 

 ventre caudaque inferne brunneo-rubris ; pedibus inferne-pallidiflavo-brunneis ; squamis dorsi mag- 

 nis quadrangiilaribus et carinatis, laterum parvis granulosis. 



Longitudo e naso ad basin caudse 4 unc. ; caudas 5 unc. 9 lin. 



Hemicordyltjs Capensis, Smitb, Magazine of Natural History, vol. 2. p. 32. 

 Zonurus Capensis, Dum. etBib. Erpet. General, torn. v. p. 360. 



Colour. — The head, back, sides, extremities, and upper and lateral parts 

 of tail purplish brown ; throat, breast, belly, and under surface of tail dull 

 brownish red ; under surface of feet pale yellowish brown. 



Form, &c. — Head subtriangular, the anterior half tapered to the nose, 

 which is slightly rounded or obtuse, its upper surface slightly convex, its 

 sides anteriorly perpendicular, posteriorly convex and bulged. Neck con- 

 siderably narrower than the hind-head with the skin covering it loose, and 

 forming a large longitudinal fold on each side, extending from the angle of 

 the jaws nearly to the fore-leg. Body subovate and depressed. Tail thick 

 at the base and depressed, towards the point cylindrical and tapering. The 

 plates covering the upper surface of the head smooth, and with well-defined 

 edges, the form of each represented in Plate XXX. Fig. 6, ; labial scales 

 of upper jaw eight, of lower jaw six, exclusive of the rostral and mental 

 plates ; angles of mouth margined with minute almost granular scales. 

 Scales of the temples rather large and in vertical rows, two or three in each 

 row, and the lower one of the hindermost row is formed differently to the rest, 

 being somewhat tubercular, and projected outwards and backwards over the 

 external ear, (vide Plate XXX. fig. 6 a.) Scales of the back large, quadran- 

 gular, strongly carinated and disposed in transverse rows, generally ten 

 in each row, the keels forming continuous delicate ridges ; the lateral and 



