X, D, 2 Taylor: Philippine Lizards 107 



of the temporals, and in having a series of small scales in a 

 groove above the front upper labials. These characters appear 

 to be constant and are present in both young and adult specimens 

 of a large series. The species is common near small mountain 

 streams where it lives under rocks and logs, but takes to the 

 water at once on being disturbed. A specimen was observed 

 to swim under -water in a clear pool for about 7 meters ; it then 

 took refuge under a large rock, where it remained for more than 

 two minutes. These lizards swim by alternating movements of 

 the arms and legs and an undulating movement of the body 

 and tail. 



Dibamus argenteus sp. nov. Plate I, figs. 11 and 12. 



Diagnosis. — Snout covered with a single large rostral, pierced 

 by the nostril; body elongate with limbs absent; 24 scale rows 

 around the body, scales equal on body, but slightly smaller on 

 the tail. Width of tail contained in its length five and two- 

 thirds times. 



Type. — No. 1691, Bureau of Science collection; Butuan, Agu- 

 san Province, Mindanao, May, 1913; E. H. Taylor, collector. 



Description of type. — Snout covered with a single large 

 rostral pierced by elongate nostrils; a strong suture emerges 

 from the nostril and continues backward in an irregular line 

 to a point opposite the eye; behind the rostral all scales im- 

 bricate; a frontal shaped like a double convex lens forms a 

 suture with the rostral ; bordered on each side by 2 oculars and 

 behind by a somewhat larger interparietal scale, as wide as, 

 and a little longer than, the frontal; oculars elongated, slightly 

 smaller than the frontal; eye appears as a clouded black dot, 

 opposite the suture in rostral; behind the ocular is a somewhat 

 enlarged scale and below it an enlarged labial forming a suture 

 with the rostral ; mental narrow, a little longer than wide, with 

 2 enlarged labials on each side extending farther back than the 

 rostral; these scales followed on each side of the head by 2 

 elongate scales opposite the first upper labial; rostral, mental, 

 and lower labials noticeably thickened; 24 scale rows around 

 the body; 250 scales in a longitudinal line from head to' tail; 

 scales around the body equal in size, slightly smaller on the 

 tail; preanal small, but preceded by 2 or 3 large scales. 



Color in life. — Light chocolate brown above and below, with 

 irregular blotches of silvery gray, 2 of which entirely encircle 

 the body; anal region creamy white; frontal plate silvery gray; 

 rostral, mental, and lower labial light. 



