12 Nelson Annandale— T/ie Lizards of the Andamans. [Supplt. 



Contributions to Oriental Herpetology I. — The Lizards of the Andamans, 

 with the Description of a new Gecko and a note on the Reproduced 

 Tail in Ftychozoon homalocephalum. — By Nelson Annan dale, B.A,, 

 Deputy Superintendent of the Indian Museum, 



In a recent paper on the distribution of the Indian vertebrates 

 Blanford (1) says regarding the Andamans and Nicobars, "These 

 islands are included because they are under the Government of British 

 India^ but they are of small importance zoologically." A collection of 

 lizards from Narcondam, lately presented to the Indian Museum by 

 Major A. R. Anderson, I.M.S., has led me to doubt whether this sum- 

 mary dismissal by so catholic and liberal an authority does not perhaps 

 unduly minimize the zoological importance of the Andamans, however 

 true it may be of the Nicobars, the faunistic separation of which from the 

 neighbouring archipelago he fully recognizes. The Indian Museum is 

 rich in material for a study of the Andaman fauna, and it has seemed 

 worth while to undertake an analysis of this one sub-order, even though 

 I have few facts that are absolutely new to put on record and only one 

 new form to describe. 



The following list, probably still far from complete, embodies what 

 I have been able to discover as to the species of lizards known from the 

 Andamans or represented in our collection. I understand that Major 

 Anderson is about to publish an account of the fauna of these islands 

 and am much indebted to his generosity in permitting me to make 

 use not only of his collection but also of his observations on the distri- 

 bution of Calotes versicolor in the archipelago. Those species in the 

 list which are also known from the Nicobars have their names distin- 

 guished by a star. 



LiZAEDS KNOWN FROM THE AnDAMANS. 



Geckonid^. 



Gymnodactyhis rubidus (Blyth) ; Oonatodes andersonii nov. ; Hemi- 

 dactylus frenatus* (Schleg.) ; Gehyra mutilata* (Wiegm.); Lepidodactylus 

 lugubris (D. & B.) ; Gecho verticillatus Laur. ; Gecko stentor* (Csmt.) ; 

 Ftychozoon homalocephalum^ * (Crev.) ? ; Phelsuma andamanense, Blyth. 



I I am not altogether satisfied with the evidence on which this species is 

 included. A specimen which I thought to be from the Andamans (Ann. Mag. N. H, 

 (vii) XV, 1905, p. 31) appears to have been labelled wrongly. (But see Theobld, 

 Cat. Rept. Brit. Ind., p. 73.) 



I 



