AND BATEACHIANS OF BAEBAEY. Ill 



6. Ptvodactylus, Gray, 1825. 



Digits all clawed, the extremity dilated, with two diverging series of lamellae 

 inferiorly disposed somewhat like a fan ; the claw retractile in the anterior notch of 

 the distal expansion. Pupil vertical. No prseanal or femoral pores. 



1. Pttodactylus lobatus, Geoffroy, 1809. (Plate XIII. fig. 2.) 



Head large ; body rather short ; limbs long and slender. Upper surface of body 

 and limbs covered with granules intermixed with small keeled tubercles ; lower surfaces 

 with fiat smooth scales. Tail slender, tapering. Greyish or yellowish brown above, 

 spotted with darker ; lower parts white. 



Ranges from Algeria to Egypt, Nubia, Arabia, and Syria. 



In Algeria this species is found in the stony Sahara, and in the southern parts 

 of the Plateaux. M. Lataste collected specimens at Ghardaia, Laghouat, Bou-Saada, 

 between Bou-Saada and Biskra, and between Biskra and Batna, and received a specimen 

 from Djenian bon Eesk, near Oran, through Dr. Maury. Dr. Strauch also records it 

 from Batna (' Bemerk. iiber die Geckoniden-SammL St. Petersb. Mus.' p. 35, 1887). 



The following is M. Lataste's description of Algerian specimens, for which he 

 proposed in 1880 the name P. oudrii: — "Smaller and less slender than the Egyptian 

 Ptyodactylus. When the arm is stretched forwards in the latter, the wrist reaches 

 the nostril, whilst in the new species it reaches only midway between the eye and the 

 nostril. When the hind limb is stretched forwards the heel reaches the axil in the 

 former, but far from it in the latter. Length of the head twice in the length of the 

 trunk in P. oudrii, twice and a half in the other species. The largest specimen measures : 

 head 17 millim., from snout to vent 55, tail 57. Scaling generally coarser in P. oudrii, 

 the gi'anules as well as the tubercles larger. The ventral scales, very small and almost 

 granular in the Egyptian species, are comparatively large, distinctly hexagonal, and 

 quite flat in the Algerian ; this difference particularly conspicuous on the lower belly, 

 where, as well as under the thigh and leg, the scales reach a considerable size in 

 P. oudrii, comparable to that of the sublabials and chin-shields. In the Egyptian 

 species the chin-shields are immediately followed by minute granules, smaller than on 

 the breast, whilst in P. oudrii the anterior gulars are larger than the following, which 

 gradually decrease in size. Finally I count 10 distinct sublabials in the Egyptian 

 species, and only 7 or 8 in the Algerian." 



I am, however, unable to agree with my friend in separating these Algerian specimens 

 as a distinct species. The difference in the number of lower labials does not hold good. 

 There is every gradation between P. oudrii and P. lolatus, and some Syrian specimens 

 are undistinguishable from the former, except in their larger size. I think the following- 

 notes, taken from all the specimens in the British Museum, are sufficient to show that 

 P. oudrii cannot be regarded as more than a variety of P. lobatus. 



s 2 



