638 DR. J, .ufDEBSOjr ON REPTILES AKD [June 18, 



near Aden, but in the British Museum there are examples from 

 Muscat \ from the Sinaitic peninsula, and one from Arabia^ 

 presented by the late Sir Eichard Burton, and, therefore, probably 

 from Midian. 



2. Peistueus flavipunctatus, Eiippell. 



Pristurus Jlavipundatus, Eiippell, jS'eue Wirbelth. 1835, Eept. 

 p. 17, pi. vi. fig. 3. 



13 5 . Aden : " common on the rocks." 



4 c? , 5 2 . Lahej : " common on the trimks of babool trees." 



In the British Museum there is a single example of this species 

 from Shaikh Othman, presented by Marquis Doria. These 

 specimens now prove the species to be distributed over the Aden 

 district, where it appears to be quite as common as it is on the 

 opposite African coast ; but Colonel Terbury informs me that it 

 is extremely difficult to capture owing to the rapidity of its 

 movements. 



The spots which occur on the sides of this little Gecko of rocks 

 and trees are rich blood-red in freshly preserved specimens. They 

 are very minute, generally not larger than two granules, and 

 are chiefly confined to the sides, from the axilla to the groin, and 

 to the sides of the belly. The brilliancy of these spots induced me 

 to examine them with a hand-lens, when I was surprised to find 

 that many of the supposed coloured spots of the lizard were due 

 not to skin-pigment but to the presence of a minute mite 

 simulating their colour. I submitted a portion of the skin 

 to the high authority of Mr. Albert D. JMichael, who was 

 so good as to examine it, and he informs me that the minute 

 mite belongs to the genus GeJcobia, and that it is either identical 

 with, or very similar to, G. loricata, Berlese. Mr. Michael is 

 disposed to think that it is identical, but says that there may be 

 some minute differences which can only be detected by actual 

 dissection, and, moreover, that it is difficult to compare spirit- 

 specimens, which shrink, with Berlese's drawing made from life ; 

 he therefore leaves the question of the species in abeyance. 

 Berlese's specimens were found, Mr. Michael informs me, " in a 

 precisely similar situation under the scales of Platijdactylus 

 muralis" (Tareniola mauritanica, Linn.) " in South Italy." 



In the males of these specimens the crest of the taO. may be 

 traced on to the sacral region, but not beyond it. 



All the specimens from Aden and its neighbourhood are much 

 paler in colour than those from the opposite African coast. 



" This species is plentiful everywhere on the rocks in Aden, from 

 the sea-level to the summit of Shum-Shum. I was at first under 

 the impression that they basked in the hottest sunshine, but found 

 afterwards that they "almost entirely disappeared during the 

 greatest heat of the day. Nevertheless, when they .were moving 



' Boidenger, Aun. & Mag. N. H. (5) xx. 1887, p. 407. . ' . , 

 - Oat. Liz. B. M. "Jncl ed. i. 1885, p. 14. 



