1895.] BATRACHIANS FROM ADETf. 647 



Jesse in Abyssinia, referred by Mr. Blanforcl ' many years ago, 

 and again more recently '", to Euprepes perrotetii, and which he sus- 

 pected was the Tiliqua burtoni, Blyth', from Somali-land. 



Blyth's description of Tiliqua hurtoni is very short. He com- 

 pares it to " Tiliqua rufescens of India," but says that it differed ui 

 having a series of large scales along the upper surface of the tail. 

 Now the Somali-land lizard that best agrees with Blyth's species, 

 in this respect, is M. hildehrandti, and not the Abyssinian and Arabian 

 Mabuia brevicoUis, Wiegmann. Mr. Boulenger ^ has identified Mr. 

 Blanford's lizard as Euprepes brevicoUis, Wiegmann ', after having 

 studied the type in the Berlin Museum, and also that of E. pyrrho- 

 cephalus, Wiegm., preserved in the same Institution, and which he 

 considered to be identical ^vith the former. Wiegmann states 

 regarding E. brevicoUis, which was from Abyssinia, " capitis totius- 

 que corporis pholidosis eadem qusd in pi/rrhocejjJiala " — a statement 

 which is of importance as he mentions that the latter had two 

 loreals, whereas in the specimen in the British Museum there is only 

 one loreal — a condition, however, which is in all probability due 

 to fusion of the shields. Apart from this abnormal featu'-e, there 

 can be no doubt that the Abyssinian lizard is the E. brevicoUis, 

 Wiegm., of which a much more detailed description exists under 

 E. pyrrhoceplialus. The latter was obtained by Hemprich and 

 Ehrenberg on the island of Aschik in the Eed Sea, and the former, 

 as already mentioned, was from Abyssinia. The fact that the 

 specimen in the British Museum was from Abyssinia and that it 

 agreed on the whole, with the exception of having a single loreal, 

 with the structural features and more especially the coloration of 

 E. brevicoUis, probably led Mr. Boulenger to select the term brevi- 

 coUis as the specific name in preference to E. pyrrhocephalus. The 

 specimen that Mr. Boulenger dealt with was a female, and all the 

 individuals from Aden of the same sex agree with Wiegmann's 

 description of E. brevicoUis, whereas all the males from Aden 

 correspond to E. pyn-hocepjlialus. From a consideration of these 

 facts, it becomes evident that Wiegmann's description of E. pyrrho- 

 cephalus was founded on the male and that of E. brevicoUis on the 

 female of the same species. The adult of E. pyrrhocephalus 

 measured about 137 millim. from the snout to the vent, which is 

 only about 8 millim. shorter than the largest male collected by 

 Colonel Terbury. 



Herr Matschie ^ has recently redescribed this species under the 

 name of M. pulchra, his two specimens having been obtained 

 also at Lahej, or close to it. The smallest of Colonel Yerbury's 

 specimens is practically of the same size as Herr Matschie's largest 

 example of his M.pulchra, as it is 64 millim. from snout to vent, while 

 the latter is 61 millim. It agrees exactly with his description. 



1 Geol. & Zool. of Abyssinia, 1870, p. 456. 



2 Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1881, p. 469. 



^ Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xxiv. pt. 2, 1856, p. 306, 

 * Cat. Liz. B. M. iii. 1887. p. 169. 

 = Arch. f. Natur. Berl. 1837, p. 133. 

 « SB. Ges. Beil. 1893, pp. 29-30, 



