STENODACTYLTTS. 35 
SQUAMATA. 
LACERTILIA. 
GECKONLD^. 
STENODACTYLUS. 
Stenodactylus, Fitzinger, Neue Class. Kept. 1826, p. 13. 
Digits not dilated, straight, clawed, covered below with keeled scales, the central 
longitudinal row enlarged in the form of carinated lamellae ; sides of digits dentated 
or fringed. Body covered with juxtaposed, almost granular, scales, with or without 
intermixed large tubercles. Prseanal pores present. 
Before considering the species of Stenodactylus found in Egypt it is desirable to 
recall the nature of the scaling of the under surface of the digits. In S. elegans, Fitz., 
there is, e. g. on the third finger, a longitudinal row of 20 to 22, more or less tricarinate, 
slightly imbricate lamellse, with a row of minute, serrately pointed scales external to 
it. The upper surface of one of the principal digits is covered at its middle with four 
or five scales, those of the external row being directed outwardly, and somewhat 
distally. This arrangement of the external dorsal scales confers a somewhat dentated 
appearance to the sides of the digits. In the species which I have named S. petrii, an 
additional longitudinal row of small scales occurs outside the lamellae, i. e. external to 
the single row of the previous species, and the outer row of the dorsal scales becomes 
somewhat enlarged and projects as a fringe, most developed on the digits of the hind 
feet. 
The under surfaces of the digits of Ceramodactylus dorice, Blanford 1 , are covered 
throughout the greater part of their extent by minute, uniformly sized, more or less 
imbricate scales arranged in oblique series but also longitudinally. Towards the 
distal ends of the digits they become fewer in number, and there is a tendency 
to the formation of a central row somewhat slightly larger than the scales external 
to it. In C. affinis, Murray, in which the scales on the under surface have much 
the same characters as in the former species, those occupying the mesial line of 
the digit manifest a perceptible increase in size over the others, so that they may be 
regarded as illustrating the passage of these scales into the well-defined central 
1 The genus ffohdactylus, which Prof. Boettger (Zool. Anz. xvi, 1893, p. 113) regarded as a gecko and 
referred to the neighbourhood of Ceramodactylus, has been pointed out by Mr. Boulenger (Ann. & Mag. 
N. H. (ser. 6) xvi. Aug. 1895, p. 166) to be an Eublepharid. The figure which Messrs. Lucas and Frost 
have given of the under surface of the digits of Ceramodactylus damceus, L. & F. (HornExped. C. Australia, 
Feb. 1896, pp. 114 & 119, pi. ix. fig. 2, and Proc. Koy. Soc. Vict. viii. (n. s.) 1895, pp. 1-4), conclusively 
proves it not to be a Ceramodactylus, but possibly a Diplodactylus. 
f2 
