108 ME, G. A. BOULENGER ON THE REPTILES 



Material received since the publication of the British Museum Catalogue of Lizards 

 induces me to adopt M. Lataste's view (in litt.) that 8. wilkinsonii, Gray, which I 

 ventured to keep distinct from S. guttatus, and which has since been recorded from 

 Batna by Dr. Strauch, is not specifically distinct. In fact the variations, both of scaling 

 and of proportions, are as great in this species, and of the same kind, as in Ptyodactylus 

 hiatus. The form that I regard as the typical S. guttatus has a moderately pointed 

 snout, the dorsal granules are rather large, convex and coarsely granular, the rostral 

 shield enters the nostril, and the hind limb reaches barely the axil. Stouter specimens 

 with shorter snout have been named S. mauritanicws. In Gray's S. toilMnsonii the 

 snout is more pointed, the dorsal scales flat and subimbricate, the rostral is excluded 

 from the nostril, and the hind limb reaches the shoulder. All these diff'erences, how- 

 ever, break down, as specific characters, on examination of large series of specimens, 

 and I do not even see my way to distinguishing the three forms as varieties. A speci- 

 men from Bou-Saada, collected by M. Lataste, has the short head and short limbs of 

 S. mauritanicus ; the dorsal scales very small, flattish, smooth, but not imbricate ; and 

 the nostril well separated from the rostral. 



Stenodactylits guttatus ranges from the Algerian Sahara to Egypt, Arabia, and Syria. 

 It extends also into the Algerian Plateaux (Batna, Strauch ; Bou-Saada, Lataste). 

 M. Lataste found it at "Wed Dermel, Laghouat, and Bou-Saada, and received specimens 

 from Mraier and Wargla. Gervais records it from the Souf, and Guichenot from the 

 province of Oran. Dr. Andre obtained it in the region of the Chotts, at Bir Knafes 

 and Bled Berrada. In Tunisia, M. Lataste found it at Houmt-es-Souk (Djerba Island) 

 and at Wed el Ftour (south of Cabes), and his colleagues M. Valery-Mayet at Sfax, 

 Kerkenna Island, and Bou-Hedma, and M. Sedillot at Feriana and Gafsa and Kriz. 



Good figures of this species are given in the Expedition d'Egypte, Eept. pi. v. fig. 2, 

 and by Guichenot in Explor. Alg., Rept. pi. i. fig. I. 



2. Tropiocolotes, Peters, 1880. 



Digits not dilated, furnished with a long claw, and denticulated laterally ; inferiorly 

 with a series of keeled scales. Scales rather large and imbricate. Pupil vertical. No 

 praeanal or femoral pores. 



This genus comprises two species : — T. tripolitanus, from Tunisia and Tripoli, and 

 T. steudneri {Gymnodadylus steudneri, Peters, 1869, Stenodactylus jjetersii, Blgr., 

 1885), from Egypt and the Sennaar. 



1. Tropiocolotes tripolitanus, Peters, 1880. 



Body and limbs rather slender, covered with imbricate, rhomboidal, keeled scales ; 

 42 to 44 scales round the middle of the body. Nostril pierced between the rostral, 

 the first labial, and three nasals ; mental followed by a pair of chin-shields. Tail 

 tapering to a fine point, and considerably longer than head and body Colour above 



