Nucras. 21 



Head 3| to 4j times in length to vent, sometimes as deep as broad, 

 sometimes a little broader, the cheeks often swollen in the males. 

 Pileus usually twice as long as broad. The hind limb reaches the 

 wrist or the elbow, rarely the axil,* or just overlaps the fore limbf ; 

 foot as long aS or slightly longer or slightly shorter than the head. 



Lepidosis as in the typical form, but suture between the prefrontals 

 sometimes longer, frontal sometimes nearly twice as long as broad, 

 interparietal of ten broader (2 to 3 times as long as broad), first supra- 

 ocular often extensively in contact with the frontal, and fourth some- 

 times separated from the anterior upper temporal^ ; 2 to 6 small scales 

 between the supraoculars and the superciliaries, of which there may be 

 7 ; anterior loreal sometimes more than half as long as second§ ; tym- 

 panic sometimes very small, rarely absent. 26 to 33 gular scales in a 

 longitudinal series ; collar composed of 7 to 14 plates. 45 to 60 scales 

 across the middle of the body. Ventral plates in 27 to 34 transverse 

 series. A large preanal bordered by four or six smaller shields, or two 

 large preanals, one in front of the other, or three forming a triangle 

 bordered by a semicircle of small plates. 11 to 20 femoral pores on 

 each side. 20 to 26 lamellar scales under the fourth toe. 



Varies much in markings. The principal variations may be arranged 

 as follows, starting with the most primitive : 



A. (N. tessellata, var. tmniolata, Bocage.) 4 or 6|| white dorsal 

 streaks separated by wider dark brown interspaces, and 3 white streaks 

 on each side, the upper (proceeding from the temple above the ear- 

 opening) broken up, anteriorly, into a series of round spots ; on the 

 posterior part of the body these markings fade into a pale buff colour, 

 which also occupies the upper surface of the limbs and tail. The 

 coloration is thus very similar to 'that of Smith's L. teeniolata. — 

 Dongwenna, Mossamedes. (Ann. S. Afr. Mus. xiii, pi. vii, fig. 1). 



* Male and young from Bulawayo, female from Port Elizabeth. 



t Female from L. Nyassa. 



X Males from Vredefort Road and Eustenburg, female from Leydenburg. 

 The upper temporal is then entirely on the temple. Bedriaga observes, 

 d propon of his L. cameranoi, that the upper temporals are on the upper surf aoe , 

 forming part of the pileus, in the South African species (my Nucras). The 

 series of specimens here referred to N. intertexta shows this character to be by 

 no means a constant one, as these shields may be lateral and perpendicular to 

 the parietals. There is thus in Nucras the same amount of variation with 

 respect to this feature as in L. muralis, in which Mehely has used it for the 

 distinction of his Archseolacertss and Neolascertse. 



§ A single postnasal on one side in a young from Bulawayo. 



II 4 in the male, 5 in the female ; only two specimens examined. 



