948 MR. A. LOVERIDGE : NOTES ON 



Y A k A N I D ^. 



Varanus niloticus Linn. 



Blgr. Oat. Liz. ii. 1885, p. 317. 



The Ukerewe name for this Monitor is Eikwanibo, the Ugalla 

 name is Mbvilu, the Wsjsukuma call it Mbulu also. 



Five specimens were collected at llonga, Kilosa, and Tindiga, 

 but also seen at Mkata lliver, Sngayo, Karungu Bay in 

 Tanganyika Territor}'^, and Kisunm in Kenya Colony. 



The largest female was 50| inches (519 + 761); monitors on 

 Lake Victoria attain an enormous size ; a pair habitually basked 

 on a big rock south of Kisumu and were like small crocodiles. 



One large female was killed by falling from a very high tree ; 

 no branch fell with it, and the natives say that it is by no means 

 uncommon for them to fall asleep when basking on a branch and, 

 forgetting their position, move and fall. 



In the stomach of this, specimen was a gecko {II. mahouia), 

 three large limicolarian shells, grasshopper legs, and. some cartila- 

 ginous lumps that looked like the pads of a ci^t's claws— if so, 

 they had been picked up from some skin thrown away. Another 

 Kilosa specimen nearly 4 feet long had in its stomach 22 elephant 

 hawk-moth larvce, 13 black coleopterous larvae, and one cock- 

 chafer. Yet anothex' contained ciabs and a large quantity of 

 mud. A young male had two crickets and crab remains in its 

 stomach. None had visible parasitic worins. 

 , Ticks {Aponomma exornatwn Koch) were found about the 

 vent and feet of one specimen. Another monitor had them on 

 the fore-leg near armpit. 



Yaranus OCELLATUS Riipp. 



Blgr. Oat. Liz. ii. 1885, p. 308. 



. Kenge is the general Kisw ah 11 i name for monitors as Mbulu is 

 for the Wasukuma, who do not distinguish species. The Ugalla 

 have a special name for the Eyed Monitor, which they call 

 Enumusa. 



A male 48 inches long (557+657) was found crawling in the 

 road at Kilosa with bleeding mouth and finctured skull. It had 

 almost certainly fallen from a tall and solitary tree a few feet 

 away. Curiously enough a native had reported a " Kenge " 

 being seen up this tree some months before. 



A single female 63| inches (597 + 763) from Tindiga had no 

 fewer than 35 eggs (60x40 mm.) in the oviducts, 13 of these 

 being in the left and 22 in the right. There were parasitic worms 

 {Physaloptera 2xiradoxa v, Linst.) in the stomach, and ticks 

 {Aponomma exonmizMH Koch) on the scales. 



