1896.] ON A NEW GHOKO TROil PBNAWfl. 767 



8. On a new Gecko from Penang. 

 By G. A. BouLENGER, F.R.S. 



[Received June 16, 1896.] 



(Plate XXXVI.) 



Among some Reptiles and Batrachians collected on Penang hill 

 (at 2200 feet altitude) by Mr. Stanley Flower, and presented by him 

 to the Natural History Museum, there was a new Gecko of 

 particular interest. At a first glance it appears to be a Plyehozoon, 

 that curious form of parachute-bearing Geckos of which we now 

 know two species from South-eastern Asia, viz., P. Jwmalocephalum, 

 Orev., and P. horsfieldi. Gray. But this resemblance is merely a 

 case of convergence, for whilst Plyehozoon is a modi6ed form of 

 Oecfco, the new lizard is clearly derived from Hemidactylus. The 

 gap between the species referred to Gecko and those on which 

 Ptyclwzoon is based is so considerable, that the latter genus has 

 been universally accepted by modern herpotologists. But in the 

 present case tlio matter is not (juite so simple ; for wo have 

 long been acquainted with a species of Hemidactylus, — //. platy- 

 urus, Schn., — which, by the presence of a well-developed fold 

 along the side, foreshadows the development of the parachute 

 of Plyehozoon ; however, the scaling on these membranes does not 

 show any modification, and therefore I have thought it fit to found 

 a new genus for the species described below, which differs in the 

 brick-like enlarged scales covering the side-membranes, as well as 

 in the greater development of these membranes and the fuller 

 web between the digits. If Plyehozoon deserves to stand as 

 distinct from Oecico, it would be illogical not to allow the same 

 rank to the new Penang Lizard. I therefore propose to name it 

 Mimetozoon Jloweri. 



MiMBTOzooN, gen. nov. 



Digits extensively webbed, strongly dilated, with two rows of 

 lamellae beneath ; the two distal phalanges compressed and slender, 

 rising from within the extremity of the dilated portion ; all the 

 digits clawed. Limbs and sides of head, body, and tail with much- 

 developed dermal expansions. Upper surfaces covered with juxta- 

 posed granular scales and tubercles, the parachute-membrane 

 covered above with imbricate tetragonal scales arranged like bricks. 

 Pupil vertical. 



Mimetozoon rLOWBBi, sp. nov. (Plate XXXVI.) 



Head slightly distinct from neck ; snout obtusely pointed, much 



longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, 



once and a half the diameter of the orbit ; forehead concave ; 



ear-opening oval, horizontal. Body and limbs much depressed ; 



digits short, two-thirds webbed, inner short ; five lamellEB under 

 Pkoc. Zool. Soo.— 1896, No. L. 50 



