1842.] Asiatic Society. 867 



upon the breast, while those of the belly are of the usual oblong-quadrangulate form. 

 The general colour is yellowish olive-green above, irregularly banded with reddish- 

 brown having dusky margins, which latter throw out lines across the greenish, so as to 

 separate this into large round spots ; these markings, however, are not very strikingly 

 conspicuous : the tail is barred with successive pairs of transverse dusky bands, 

 enclosing somewhat rufous brown interspaces ; and the under-parts are pale and spot- 

 less, inclining much to yellowish-green on the belly, and having a few very faint dusky 

 bars across the neck : above, the neck is uniform-brown, and the crown darker ; there 

 is a narrow streak of blackish behind each eye ; the fore-limbs are sulphui'-yellow, and 

 the hinder coloured like the back and tail. Of several young which we possess in 

 spirits, the largest measures nineteen inches, of which the tail is ten inches and a half; 

 general colour similar to the last, but much paler, and legs green (the latter, however, 

 may have faded), the dusky cross-bands underneath the neck are more distinct, the 

 head and neck above are very pale, and the darker colour — though less deep than 

 in the preceding — is more predominant on the back, so as to leave only a series of 

 irregular whitish cross-bands. Another ten inches and three-quarters long, with the 

 tail five inches and a half, is intermediate in its markings to the two preceding, but 

 much darker than either ; the cross-bars beneath its neck are very distinct, and there 

 are others descending from the sides of the body, but interrupted along the middle of 

 the under-parts, which lines are considerably less distinct in the last specimen, and 

 but just visible in the large one. Still smaller examples, but six inches and three- 

 quarters long, of which the tail measures three inches and a half, are more like the 

 large one, but differ in having their markings well brought out and brightly con- 

 trasted : one has alternate broad and narrow cross-bands of pale greenish more or 

 less divided into spots ; and another has the same kind of bands less regular, both these 

 having also the nape pale greenish, and banded with dusky-brown, which is 

 broadest at the median line. It is clear that the particular markings of each indivi- 

 dual specimen are permanent for life, as regards disposition, but become gradually 

 indistinct, and more or less effaced, with age ; the dark, which at first appear of uni- 

 form tint changing to brown where broad, leaving dusky edgings only ; while different 

 specimens vary at all ages considerably from each other, and are pale or dark, very 

 probably according to the soil on which they^inhabit.* 



The V. Picquotii is remarkable for its comparatively short toes and small claws, 

 and for the strong yellowish tinge which prevails more or less on its olive-green ground- 

 tint. M. M. Dumeril and Bibron remark that they have every reason to believe that 

 the Monitor fiavescens figured by Hardwicke and Gray represents this species, al- 

 though the scales are not shewn to be carinated, which, however, may have been an 

 omission of the draughtsman ; and accordingly they have included that denomination 

 as a synonym, but without stating that the name Picquotii had been published prior 

 to that of fiavescens, which latter appears in the ' Zoological Journal,' III, 225. There 

 certainly can be no doubt of the correctness of this identification. 



3. V. binotatus, Dumeril and Bibron. The example sent of this species measures 

 four feet and a quarter in length, of which the tail is thirty-one inches, thus exceed- 



* I have since obtained other adults of this species, but none so large as that of which the 

 dimensions are above given. They vary considerably in their markings, and in some the rufous 

 brown colour predominates over the usually prevailing olive-green. In all the tribe, the colours 

 of the living animal are much brought out by putting it into water. 



."; X 



