ox REPTILES FHOM THE RIVER TAJAN. 1 1 



o. Reptiles from the River Tajan (Traiiscaspia). 

 By L. A. Lantz ^. 



[Received February 5, 1918 : Read February 19, 1918.] 

 (Plate I.) 



The small collection of reptiles which 1 a,m about to describe 

 was made from April to September 1914 by Mr. N. V.^ 

 Meriakri, who presented it to the Zoological Museum of the 

 Moscow Univei'sity. Prof. (7. A. Kojevnikof was kind enough 

 to entrust me with its study. 



This material, although consisting of only 35 specimens, con- 

 tains 16 species, one of which appears to l;e new. It thus affords, 

 interesting information on the herpetologicnl fauna of the region, 

 of the river TaJan, situated at the meeting of the Persian, Afghan,, 

 and Transcaspian frontiers. 



1. Gymxodactylus microlepis, sp. n. (PI. I. fig. 1.) 



3 c? . Length of head and body (from snout to vent) 61, 60,. 

 and 40 mm_. 



Head oviform, rather depressed. Snout much longer than the 



diameter of the eye. Forehead slightly concave. Ear-opening 



11 11- .L- 1 Ti J.- length of head „ ^_ , 



small, elhptical. Proportion: , — °- — - =0*27 to 



0-30 ; average 0-28. ^^"g*^^ ^^ ^^«<^^ ^"^^ body 



Body modemte, depressed. A well-marked lateral fold. 



. length of fore limb 



Limbs rather long;'. Proportion : ^j -■ — r--^ -, n — r^ =0'4z. 



° ^ length 01 head and body 



, n ^o A ... T-. X- length of hind limb 



to U"43 ; average 0'43. Proportion: i ,- rn — 1~ 



. = 0-61 to 0-64 r average 0-63. l^^S^^ "* ^'^^^'^ '''''^ body 



Tail cyclotetragonal and slightly depressed at the base, becoming 



1- 1 • 1 . 1 ,1 1 T^ j^- length of tail 



cylindrical towards the end. Proportion : - — — -^ — ^^.j . =-; — ^- 



= 1-33 (1 spec.) length of head and body 



Rostral broader than deep, with median cleft above. Nostril 

 pierced between the rostral, the first supralabial, and 3 feebly 

 swollen na.sals. 10 or 11 supralabials. Scales of snout, forehead, 

 and supraocular region polygonal, slightly convex, small in the 

 postnasal depression, enlarged in front of the eye. One enlarged 

 superciliary. Paiietal and occipital regions covered with small, 

 roundish, feebly convex scales, intermixed with larger, more 

 convex, or slightly conical ones. On the temple a few large, 

 moderately conical, but not keeled tubercles ; the other temporal 

 scales small, granular ; in front of the ear-opening 2 or 3 small 

 tubercles. 



Mental large, sub-triangular. 7 to 9 infralabials. 3 pairs 

 of chin-shields, the first not forming a suture behind the apex 



* Communicated by G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., F.Z.S. 



