640 MR. P. D. MONTAGUE ON THE 
generally a smaller structure, placed in some elevated position 
such as the top of a steep hill or a cliff overlooking the sea. 
The eggs in nearly every case were three in number, one of 
which was often addled, creamy white in ground-colour, boldly 
blotched with deep reddish brown and underlying markings of 
purple-grey. Average measurements, 60x47 mm. The young 
when hatched are covered with grey down, and in their first 
plumage the head and breast are much streaked with brown. 
The food, judging from remains found in the nest, consists 
mostly of sea-snakes aud a sphyreenid fish, known locally as 
‘ Pike,’ which swims near the surface over the sandy shallows. In 
catching prey so slippery and narrow in girth, the conical and 
sharply pointed enlarged scales under the feet must be of especial 
service. As has often been observed in other localities, the prey 
is always carried lengthwise. 
REPTILIA, 
The following is a list of the Reptiles inhabiting the group. 
The nomenclature adopted is that of Boulenger, Brit. Mus. Cat. 
of Lizards, 1885, and Cat. of Snakes, 1893. I have to thank 
Mr. Boulenger for his kind assistance in identification. 
1, HEeTERoNOTA BINOEI Gray. (PI. I. figs. 1-3.) 
Gray, Cat. p. 159; Boulenger, B.M. Cat. vol. i. p. 151. 
This species is distributed over Western Australia and the 
islands off the coast. On the Monte Bello Group it is very 
abundant, and the individuals are of large size and extremely 
variable in colour. It is nocturnal in habit, hiding by day under 
stones or pieces of wood, but at night it may be seen in numbers 
with the aid of a lantern, moving about rather sluggishly over 
the sand in search of the small beetles and spiders upon which it 
feeds. 
2, GuHYRA vaRrEGATA, B.M. Cat. vol. i, p. 151. 
Perwpia variegata Gray, Cat. p. 159. 
This little gecko is widely distributed over Australia and 
Polynesia, though most of the records are from the north and 
west of the continent. On the Monte Bello Islands, it occurs 
quite commonly on the sandy plains which are well clothed with 
scrub, hiding by day in the sand, and ascending the bushes at 
night in search of insects. Nearly all the examples were obtained 
at night upon stumps and posts which had been ‘ sugared’ for 
moths, preying upon the insects as they alighted. 
The specimens obtained, which are all from Hermite, are of 
small size, and show in every case four longitudinal rows of light 
spots down the dorsal surface, which are absent from the majority 
of examples examined from other localities. It is remarkable 
