1881.] MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON PERSIAN REPTILES. 6/3 



is very rarely the case in the animals 1 have collected : the keels on 

 the ventral scales are sometimes faint; and in one or two instances 

 they are nearly or quite obsolete in old females ; but as a rule they can 

 be seen with ease. I find, however, on examining the specimens in 

 the Paris Museum, that the ventral scales have for the most part 

 lost their epidermis, and, with the outer coat, the keel has dis- 

 appeared ; whilst on one of the specimens procured by Olivier himself, 

 on a small portion of the breast the epidermis remains, and a faint, 

 but perfectly distinct keel can be traced on each scale. 



There are, however, in the Berlin Museum two specimens of an 

 Agama from Persia, distinguished from the common form by being 

 more depressed, by having smooth ventral scales, and by the smaller 

 size of the body-scales generally, there being 80 to 85 round the 

 body, whilst in the common Persian form there are only 70 to 75. 

 In consequence of the want of keels an the ventral scales, these 

 Lizards were supposed by Dr. Peters to be the true A. agilis. I 

 think, however, it is clear, from the evidence already stated, that the 

 larger-scaled form, with keeled ventral scales, is the species described 

 by Olivier. The depressed small-scaled Lizards may perhaps be a 

 very aberrant variety ; but they look like a distinct species. 



It is as well, before proceeding further, to mention that the deve- 

 lopment of the keels on the scales is not the only variable character. 

 There is much variation in the number of spinose scales at the side 

 of the neck and behind the ear, and, indeed, in the extent to which 

 the scales of the upper parts generally are " mucronate " (i. e. ter- 

 minate in a spine posteriorly). There are sometimes, as stated by 

 Dumeril and Bibron, two rows of poriferous scales in front of the vent, 

 sometimes only one, whilst in females the pores are small or absent. 



Whether Trapelus Jlavimaculatus of Riippell is the same Lizard, 

 I should be loth to decide without seeing the types. There is 

 nothing in the description adverse to the union of the forms. 

 In the figure the shape of the head is represented as very different; 

 but this may be a mistake. The flatter shape of the body and the 

 absence of praeanal pores may indicate, if the species be the same, 

 that a female has served as the type. It is as well to note that in 

 Riippell's description the scales of the lower parts are said to have 

 the keels only faintly indicated, whilst on the back most of the 

 scales are stated to have a little point projecting behind, which ap- 

 pears as the end of an inconspicuous keel. This exactly defines the 

 usual condition of the scales in adult females of the Persian Lizard. 



The specimen in the British Museum labelled A. flavimaculata 

 from Arabia, however, is not, I think, the same as A. agilis. It is 

 a more depressed form, resembling Trapelus ruderatus in shape ; and 

 the scales of the back and sides are slightly unequal in size '. 



^ Peters (Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 1869, p. 66) states that Trapelus jlavima- 

 culatiis. E-iipp., is the same as Agama savignii, Audouin, and is distinguished 

 from the true A. agilis by more or less distinctly keeled scales on tbe lower 

 parts (after what has been stated above, this distinction cannot be considered 

 sufficient), and by the scales behind and below the ear-orifice being larger and 

 less numerous. 



