ABLEPHARUS KITAIBELII. 209 



the palate, and its groove is triangular and not deep ; four 

 feet, each with five unequal toes, which are provided with 

 nails ; scales smooth ; no femoral or pre-anal pores. 



Ablepharus Kitaibelii. 



Ablepharus Kitaibelii, Dum. et Bib. vol. v. p. 809. 

 Ablepharus Pannonicus, Schinz, Europ. Faun. vol. ii. p. 32. 



Description. — The body is more snake-like, and the legs 

 shorter than in the other species ; the fore-legs are scarcely 

 longer than the neck, and the hind-legs are as long as the 

 neck and head ; the toes of the fore-feet increase in length 

 from the first to the third ; the fourth is shorter than the 

 third, and the fifth a little shorter than the second ; on the 

 hind-legs the length of the toes increases from the first to 

 the fourth, while the fifth is shorter than the second ; the 

 tail, which tapers very gradually, is not more than half the 

 entire length of the animal ; the head is short and blunt ; 

 the only vestige of an eyelid is found towards the hinder 

 part of the eye, it is covered with a double row of small 

 scales ; the head has two fronto-parietal plates ; ear-open- 

 ings very small, placed among four plates just behind and 

 a little above the gape; there are two very large pre- 

 anal scales ; the scales of the body are quite smooth, hexa- 

 gonal, much widened, arranged in twenty longitudinal rows. 

 The upper parts of the body are coppery green ; a band of 

 chestnut runs along each side from the nostril to behind 

 the thigh, and is bordered above and below by a very 

 narrow line of white ; lower parts yellowish white. Feeds 

 on small insects. 



Entire length, about 4 inches. 



Has been found in Hungary, and by the French Scien- 

 tific Expedition in the Morea, in both which countries it 

 would seem to be very rare. M. Eversmann observed it in 

 Bokhara; and the authors of the ' Erpe"tologie Generale' 



