468 ON THE LIZARDS OF SOCOTRA. [Apr. 5, 



shields with a row of granules along the outer edge only, one or two 

 small shields in front and behind. Central occipital well developed, 

 about as broad as the vertical and as large as a prseoccipital ; a small 



Head of Ercmias bcdfouri. 



posterior interoccipital. A large infraorbital shield, extending to 

 the lip, with four supralabials on each side between it and the rostral. 

 Ear-opening large, not toothed, but with an enlarged scale in front 

 above ; the scales of the temporal region are smooth, and slightly- 

 convex, those behind and below being larger than those in the 

 middle and in front ; the scales along the edge of the occipitals are 

 variable. Usually 6 pairs of chin-shields, the first three pairs 

 meeting in the centre, the fourth pair the largest. 



Shields of the back granular, rounded, convex, without interve- 

 ning granules ; about 40 may be counted round the body, exclusive 

 of the ventral shields. Scales of the tail arranged in rings and 

 sharply Iveeled, except below, where they are smooth on the anterior 

 half of the tail. There is a distinct fold beneath the throat con- 

 necting the ears. Collar nearly straight, generally of 7 or 8 large 

 scales ; but they often pass gradually into smaller scales on the sides. 

 Ventrals in about 30 (from 27 to 31) transverse rows between the 

 collar and the groin, and in ten longitudinal rows, the outer row on 

 each side being not more than half the size of the next, which is 

 inferior in size to each of the six median rows. Prseanal shield 

 as us\ial, rather variable in size, the scales around about equal in 

 size to the ventrals. From 11 to 14 femoral pores on each thigh, 

 the two series separated by a short interval in the praeanal region. 



Colour rather light rufous-brown on the middle portion of the 

 back, bordered on each side by a narrow blackish band more or less 

 broken up into spots, and then a pale rufescent grey band ; below 

 this, commencing from the eye and the upper part of the temple, is 

 a broad blackish band on each side, speckled with white and mixed 

 with rufous, especially in front; again, beneath this is a narrow hght 

 grey stripe from the upper labials through the eye and above the 

 shoulder; and below this again there is sometimes a dusky band be- 

 tween the axils. The bands are gradually lost on the tail, the broad 



