1892.] BATRACHIANS FROM NYASSALAND. 557 



Rh. kerstenii. Colour uaiform greyish ; anterior half of the head 

 black. 



One adult female specimen 2 inches long, without tail. 



Rhampholeon brachytjrus. (Plate XXXIV, fig. 2.) 



Beside the additional cusp on each claw, neither the fingers nor 

 the toes are provided with a spine. Body finely granular, with 

 scattered, slightly enlarged tubercles. The interorbital space is 

 rather deeply concave, without transverse series of tubercles ; crown 

 of the head compressed, with a raised line on each side, the two 

 lines converging, and meeting at a very acute angle in the vertebral 

 line, where they are lost. A raised line or fold of the skin crosses 

 the temple and is continued along the middle of the side of the 

 body to the root of the tail. Tail very short, not prehensile, shorter 

 than the lower leg with the toes. Light yellowish, with a straight 

 brownish band running along the middle of the side below the raised 

 Hne ; two other, narrower and less dark bands run parallel to the 

 former, above and below it. Upper edge of the tail sharp and of a 

 yellow colour. 



Total length 40 millim. 



Tail 6 „ 



Two female specimens, both young, the smaller only 28 millim. 

 long. 



PSAMMOPHYLAX VARIABILIS. (Plate XXXV.) 



In general habit similar to Psammophylax rhomb eatus, but with the 

 coloration of a Psammophis. 



Vertical shield rather elongate, with slightly concave lateral 

 margins, longer than the two frontals together and as long as the 

 occipital. Rostral reaching to the upper surface of the head ; loreal 

 square ; anteocular single, large, extending to the upper surface of 

 the head, but not, or but barely, reaching the vertical. Two post- 

 oculars. Two pairs of chin-shields, the anterior in contact with 

 five lower labials. Eight upper labials, the fourth and fifth entering 

 the orbit. Temporals small, generally one in front and in contact 

 with both postoculars, the succeeding temporals rather irregularly 

 disposed. Scales in 17 rows. Ventrals 157 or 169 ; anal bifid; 

 subcaudals 57 or 55. 



Ground-colour an olive-brown ; body with straight bands pro- 

 duced by a somewhat different shade of the ground-colour, and 

 bordered by narrow black or white lines : one of these bands starts 

 from the occiput and occupies the middle of the back, another from 

 behind the eye and runs along the side of the body. The vertebral 

 series of scales is black, each with a yellow central line ; the fifth 

 outer series of scales is likewise black, but the yellow line occupies 

 the upper margin of each scale. A greenish- white Hne runs along 

 the meeting edges of the two outermost series of scales. Upper 

 part of the head uniform brown ; upper labials greenish white ; 

 lower parts greenish. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1892, No. XXXVIII. 38 



