Vou. III] VAN DENBURGH—REPTILES—CHINA, JAPAN, FORMOSA 229 
Mabuya longicaudata ruhstrati (Fischer) 
With six Formosan specimens at hand for examination it 
becomes evident that the Mabuya of this island should be 
recognized as a distinct subspecies characterized by the less 
extensive keeling of its scales. All six of these specimens 
have smooth scales on the side of the neck between the ear and 
fore limb, where the scales are strongly keeled in the specimen 
from Hainan. Five have dorsals with only two strong keels, 
while one (No. 18609) has them with a third (central) keel 
not quite so strong as the other two. Of the five with bi- 
carinate scales, two show a weak central keel on some of the 
scales. All of the keels are much weaker than in the Hainan 
lizard. The scales under the fourth toe are either twenty- 
three, twenty-four or twenty-five, as against nineteen or twenty 
in the Hainan specimen. It appears, therefore, that the differ- 
ences between the Formosan and the continental forms of this 
lizard are real, but probably not entirely constant. It there- 
fore seems best to use a trinomial for the smoother, bicarin- 
ate form, and since Fischer’s Euprepes ruhstrati was based on 
a specimen of this character from “South Formosa,” this 
name is available. 
V ariation.—The frontonasal does not touch the rostral in 
any of these specimens, but does in Fischer’s figure. It touches 
the frontal in four specimens, and is separated from this plate 
in two. The labials are 7-7 in all, the fifth being much the 
largest. Usually the first and second supraoculars touch the 
frontal, but in two specimens only the second is in contact with 
this plate on one side of the head, and in No. 18610 only the 
second on both sides. All have one azygous postmental. All 
have two or three small projecting scales on the anterior bor- 
der of the ear-opening, but in No. 18607 these are very small. 
Only No. 18612 has thirty scales around the middle of the 
body (as in the Hainan specimen) ; No. 18608 has twenty- 
nine; the other four have twenty-eight. The number of scales 
from the parietal plates to a line joining the backs of the 
thighs is forty-four in two specimens, forty-five in three, and 
forty-six in one. The plates under the fourth toe are twenty- 
three in one specimen, twenty-four in three, and twenty-five 
