128 W. T. BlMiiord— Notes on some Reptilia [No. 3, 



The only siDecimen of Bronchocela collected by Mr. Davison was 

 procured near Tavoy. The size is about the same as that of other species ; 

 from nose to anus 3*7 inches, tail about 12 inches when perfect. 



LlOLEPIS GUTTATUS. 



Mr. Davison's description of the habits of this lizard, of which he has 

 procured several specimens, supplements Mr. Theobald's.* All the speci- 

 mens procured were found in perfectly open places devoid of vegetation, 

 a favourite position being in the hard threshing floors made in the middle 

 of dry rice-fields. Here Liolepis makes its burrow and is seldom found 

 far away from the mouth of its hole. This appears to confirm Mr. 

 Theobald's opinion that Liolepis never ascends trees, as Cantor supposed. 



Mr. Theobald classed together JJromastix^ Liolepis and PJirynocepha- 

 lus, in a distinct family, which he called TTromasticidcB. The distinction 

 of the family has been accepted by other naturalists, and so far as the genus 

 Jlromastix is concerned, has some important structural peculiarities in its 

 favour, but I have already given my reasonsf for dissenting from Mr. 

 Theobald's views as to the alliance between TTromastix and FhrynocephaluSj 

 and I now feel some doubt as to whether there is any close connexion between 

 Liolepis and Uromastix^ despite the circumstance that both burrow, and 

 that there is some slight similarity in their habits. Liolepis wants the pecu- 

 liar dentition of TTromastix and is no more exclusively herbivorous than 

 Stellio. I have examined the stomachs of three specimens of Liolepis : in 

 one I found nothing except insects, (chiefly crickets and termites,) whilst in 

 the other two there was a mixture of insects and vegetable substances, 

 fragments of small fruits and apparently of leaves. The intestinal tract is 

 much shorter than in Jlromastix ; in a specimen of L. guttatus 16| inches 

 long, the whole length of the stomach and intestine (preserved in spirit) is 

 16 inches. In Uromastix the length of the intestine is much greater than 

 that of the body and tail ; in a fresh sjDecimen of IT. TiarchvicJcei, measuring 

 12i inches, the intestinal tract was 27 inches long. In a large example 

 of the Mesopotamian U. microlepis, preserved in spirit and 17 inches in 

 length, the intestinal tract was also 27 inches long. Moreover, in Uromastix 

 the form of the coecum is different, and much more complicated than in 

 Liolepis, in which there is simply an expansion of the intestine. 



ULrPE,J gen. nov. Lycodontidarum. 

 Corpus gracile^ compressum. Gaput hreve, depressum, collo paullo 

 latins. Oculi pupilla elliptica, verticalis. Scutum loreale cum prceoculari 



* Jour. Lin. Soc. X, p. 34. Descriptive Catalogue, Kept. Brit. Ind., p. 119. 

 t Eastern Persia, II, p. 334, note. 



X Etym. Ulupi, a princess of the Nagas or serpents, mentioned in the Maha 

 Bharata. 



