324 DR. A, &UNTHEB ON TWO LAEQ-E EXTINCT 



is much stouter than that of the humerus. Also this bone shows 

 no deviation from the ordinary Lacertian type. 



The boues before us are sufficient to give an idea of the size of 

 this Lizard ; by comparing them with the skeletons of a Monitor 

 and of a large Scincoid, I infer that the Lizard of Mauritius must 

 have had a body of between 14 and 15 inches in length, the tail 

 not included. 



The question as to its affinities is much less easily answered, 

 the peculiarities of the mandible being apparently rather generic, 

 and not indicative of a family type, and the leg-bones being of too 

 general a type to be of much use in the solution of the problem. 

 The Pleurodont families which can come under our consideration 

 are : — 



1. The Monitoridce, which are distinguished by a much smaller 

 number of powerful teeth than we find in the Mauritian Lizard, 



2. The TeidcB and Lacertidce may be excluded, the former as 

 being confined to the New World, the latter as being composed 

 of species of small size- 



3. Among the Iguaiiida all the genera approaching the Mau- 

 ritian species in size are provided with notched teeth. 



4. Thus, then, remain the families of Zonuridce and Scincides, 

 both of which are well represented in the tropical parts of Africa, 

 Madagascar, and even the Mascarene Islands. The dentition of 

 many of them closely resembles that of our Lizard, especially in 

 the obtuse form of the crown of the tooth. Some, like Zonurus, 

 Gerrliosaurus, and Gyclodus, approach the Mauritian form in size. 

 In members of both these families there is a similar disproportion 

 of thickness between humerus and femur, as in our Lizard. Thus 

 it seems very probable that it wiU ultimately prove to belong to one 

 of these families ; but so much appears to be certain, from a com- 

 parison of its mandible with those of the other principal generic 

 types, that it is sufficiently distinct to deserve being placed in 

 a separate genus, for which I propose the name Didosaunis mau- 

 ritianus. 



II. — Mr. Slater collected in Rodriguez, with remains of the 

 Solitaire and Tortoise, several bones which he recognized as the 

 remains of a Lizard, possibly belonging to the family of Skinks. 

 In my opinion it is a Greckoid Lizard, which, as far as the evidence 

 before us goes, cannot be separated from the genus Gecko ; but 

 the species from Rodriguez appears to have attained a much larger 

 size than Gecko verus (to which it is very similar), or than any 



