6 i4 DK. J. ANDEESOil ON BEPTILES AND [June 18, 



the larger of Col. Yerbury's specimens, which was caught in the 

 same locality, has the head and body 81 inillim . long. In the former, 

 the tail is recorded as having been 127 millim., whereas in 

 the latter it is 201 millim. in length. In the smaller of the above 

 examples, with the head and body only 53 mUIim. long, the tail is 

 148 millim., l. e. nearly 2 centimetres longer than that of the type, 

 which had its body and head almost 20 millim. in excess of the 

 former. These differences in the proportion of the tail to the body 

 and head bet^^een the type and Col. Yerbury's specimen are doubt- 

 less due, not to variation, but to the tail of the former having been 

 renewed. In Latastia the renewal of the tail is not marked by any 

 ])rominent line of demarcation, as occurs in many other genera of 

 Lizards. 



There are in all thirteen longitudinal bauds along the body of 

 this Hzard, counting the dark band external to the ventrals. The 

 middle of the enlarged dorsals is ohve-browu with a narrow yel- 

 lowish hue external to it, followed by a broad blackish band, with 

 a narrow white band external to it, succeeded by a still broader 

 black band with a white band below it, and lastly the less well-defined 

 black band along the external ventrals. The upper surface of the 

 head is olive-brown, and the limbs and tad olive above, the former 

 being more or less black-spotted. The underparts are white, with 

 exception of the under surface of the tail which is yellovA-ish. In 

 the young the lineatiou is even more pronounced than in the adult 

 and the black predominates, and the posterior thi'ee-fourths of the 

 tail are yellow, passing into orange-red at the tip. 



„ Snout to m ;i Length Width 



S«x. ^ent. of head. of head. 



2 .... 81 201 17 10 



^ 53 148 12-3 9 



Length of Length of Femoral Scales round 



°^^ fore limb. hind limb. pores, body. 



9 28 49 16 42 



^ 20-5 36 14-15 47 



The question arises whether Philochnrtus is distinct from Latastia, 

 leaving for the present in abeyance the broader question whether 

 Latastia is worthy of generic rank apart from Lacerta. 



The first character of the new genus is the presence of a shield 

 separating the interparietal from the occipital. Mr. Boulenger, 

 however, has pointed out that a shield, in the same position, is not 

 unfrequently present in Latastia longicavdata, Reuss, and my speci- 

 mens from Suakin verify this and show, moreover, that the area 

 around the interparietals and the occipital is the subject of variation, 

 as portions become separated off from the former shields. In 

 estimating, therefore, what value is to be attached to the presence 

 of a small shield between the interparietal and occipital, such varia- 

 tions as the foregoing cannot be lost sight of, as they undoubtedly 



