36 THE EEPTILES OE EGYPT. 
lamellae of Stenodactylus, and, moreover, towards the tips of the digits, this passage is 
complete in the case of a few. I am therefore inclined to regard Ceramodactylus as 
only entitled to subgeneric rank. 
One of the supposed features of Stenodactylus was the absence of prseanal pores. 
They are, however, present in one of the types, and in 13 out of 19 males, and 10 out 
of 24 females, examined by me. 
The simplest form of prseanal pore is met with in S. orientalis, in which it occurs as 
a single opening in a slightly enlarged scale occupying the mesial line. In S. elegans 
two enlarged scales separated mesially by a considerable interval are perforated, each 
by a single opening. 
Similar structures are present in Ceramodactylus dorian, but in the single specimen 
of C. affinis that has come under my observation, viz. a female, there are no traces of 
pores. In Crossobamon eversmanni there may be 3 or 4 pores, separated from one 
another in the mesial line, as in S. elegans and C. donas, but in the very limited 
number of specimens extant of S. lumsdeni and S. petrii they are not present. 
In the genus Bunopus, which is allied to Stenodactylus, a line of enlarged scales 
extends from the prseanal region for a considerable distance along the thighs. As 
many as thirty of these scales may carry pores, but not in a continuous line. In some 
specimens the pores may cease on the base of the thighs and appear again more 
distally, so that here we have an illustration of the passage of prseanal into femoral 
pores. In Alsophylax there is a similar tendency, as in it there is a series of enlarged 
interfemoral scales bearing a relatively high number (9) of prseanal pores. Although 
no pores occur on the thighs, the presence of enlarged scales suggests their occasional 
occurrence. I have, however, examined only three specimens of this genus. 
The tail in Stenodactylus is modified in two ways : it is either thick, cylindrical, and 
tapered very gradually to a rather blunt point, or it may be somewhat broad at the 
base, rapidly contracted behind this, becoming somewhat filiform, and ending in a 
fine point. The enlarged tubercles at its base are always present, and are especially 
well developed in the latter form of tail, and most so in the males, so that it is 
almost possible to determine the sexes by the degree of its development. 
A small gecko, with straight, non-dilated digits, covered below by more or less 
slightly imbricate, carinated, transverse lamellae, the sides of the digits finely dentate, 
and the body clad with small, nearly polygonal, juxtaposed scales, is found throughout 
Egypt. It was first described by Lichtenstein in 1823, under the term Ascalabotes 
sthenodach/lus 1 , and in these words : "Asc. supra alio- et brunneo-oeellatus. 5". Aegypt. 
et Nubia." Fitzinger 2 , in 182G, selected it as the type of a new genus, which he 
1 Doubl. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 1823, p. 102. 
2 N. Class. Eept. 1826, p. 47. 
