AND BATRACHIANS OF BAEEAEY. 131 



3. AcANTHODACTYLUS PAEDALis, Lichtenstein, 1823. 



A. savipiyi, Gervais, Guichenot, Strauch, Lataste. — Zootoca deserti, Giintlier. — A. bedriagie, 



Lataste. 



Snout obtuse, or, at any rate, less acute than in A. scutellafus. Three supraoculars, 

 the anterior frequently divided into two or three ; front edge of ear more or less 

 distinctly denticulated. Dorsal scales very small, granular, or subrhomboidal, smooth 

 or more or less feebly keeled. Ventral plates broader than long, sometimes very 

 slightly, in 12 or 14 regular longitudinal series. Digital denticulations feebly or 

 moderately developed, much shorter than the diameter of the corresponding part of the 

 toe, slightly more developed on the outer than on the inner side. Young longitudinally 

 streaked black and white on the body, with round white spots on the limbs ; coloration 

 of adult very variable, usually with longitudinal series of blackish and yellowish or 

 brick-red spots, sometimes with yellowish longitudinal bands ; the desert specimens 

 pale greyish or reddish. 



A. pardalis is a transitional form between A. scufeUatus and A. vulgaris. It is 

 represented in Algeria and Tunis by two ill-defined varieties, which have been 

 named by Lataste var. hedriagce, the larger, stouter form, approaching A. vulgaris in 

 structure as well as coloration, and var. deserti (:=Scaptira maculata. Gray, Zootoca 

 deserti, Giinther), the smaller form from the Sahara, which often closely approaches 

 A. scutellafus. 



The subocular rarely reaches the lip ; its lower border is usually wedged in between 

 the fourth and fifth or fifth and sixth labials. In Algerian and Tunisian specimens I 

 count 66 to 82 scales round the middle of the body, ventrals included. Femoral pores 

 15 to 25. 



From snout to vent 70 millim., tail 100. 



This species occurs from Algeria to Egypt, Somaliland, and Syria. It is tiie most 

 common and generally distributed species in Algeria and Tunisia ; it is common in the 

 Sahara, the Plateaux, and also occurs in the southern parts of the Tell. M. Lataste 

 obtained it in numerous localities both in Algeria and Tunisia, and received it from 

 Kreder, on the Moroccan frontier, from M. Maury in 1888. 



Figured, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, pi. Ixiii. fig. 1. 



4. ACANTHODACTTLUS VTJLGAEIS, Dum. & Bibr. 1839. 

 A. lineomaculatus, D. & B. 



Snout obtuse. Two supraoculars, the first and fourth being broken up into small 

 scales or granules ; front edge of the ear not or but feebly denticulated. Dorsal scales 

 smooth, or more or less distinctly keeled, small, rhomboidal, feebly imbricate on the 

 back. Ventral plates much broader than long (the largest nearly or quite twice as 

 broad as long), in straight longitudinal and transverse series; 8 or 10 plates across the 

 middle of the body. Digital denticulations very feebly developed, about equally on 



