868 Asiatic Society. [No. 129. 



ing, by more than half, the aggregate of the head, neck, and body : the head mea- 

 sures nearly four inches to auditory orifice, and two inches from eye to muzzle, the 

 anterior margin of the nostrils being within half an inch of the tip of the latter : length 

 of fore-limb to end of middle claw seven inches, and of hinder to end of longest claw nine 

 inches ; the toes well developed, and furnished with large claws, though inferior in size 

 to those of V. Bengalensis.* The head of this species is much more elongated than in 

 either of the others, and has a curvilinear series of eight broad transverse scales above 

 each orbit, conspicuously developed, while in the others the corresponding plates 

 must be sought for to be observed : the auditory orifice is broad and open. The scales 

 of the upper parts resemble those of the last species in form, being oval and much 

 carinated, but their size is much smaller, especially upon the nape and towards the 

 occiput ; on the sides of the tail they are small and oblong-quadrangulate, and on the 

 under surface of the tail they are very much larger, a particular in which this species 

 differs from both the preceding : they are of an oval shape upon the throat, breast, and 

 inside of the limbs, inclining to circular on the latter ; and upon the belly they near- 

 ly resemble those of the under surface of the tail. This fine specimen has black 

 scales with whitish intervals on the upper parts, and is banded across the body with 

 several distant rows of white rings ; immediately behind the scapulars the first of 

 these rows is less distinct, forming merely an obscure broad whitish band, anterior to 

 which a broad longitudinal black streak proceeds backward from above each fore- 

 limb, surmounted by a whitish one, not conspicuously developed in this specimen, but 

 which is usually well marked, and from it is derived the specific name which the rep- 

 tile bears ; the anterior limbs have a white spot on each scale, in addition to which 

 the hind-limbs have scattered wholly white scales, imparting a speckled appearance : 

 the under-parts are dull white, with incipient dark stripes from the sides of the body, 

 and the throat and under surface of the neck are speckled with black, having besides a 

 series of V-like cross-streaks pointing forwards ; tail minutely mottled black and 

 whitish, with broad bars of the former, indistinct for the basal two-thirds, and the rest 

 successively blacker to the end. Another specimen, of similar size, which we possess 

 as a skin, differs only in having no markings underneath the neck, the black bands are 

 less distinct on the tail, and the transverse rows of pale rings on the body less conspi- 

 cuous : in this the lateral pale shoulder^treaks are but just visible, and varieties of 

 this species have been met with altogether black. We do not possess examples of the 

 young. 



I kept the specimen of V. binotatus here described alive for some days, chain- 

 ed to a tree, which occasioned me to notice that it climbed the trunk with facility, 

 and I also observed that its regular mode of defending itself was by slapping smartly 

 with the tail, for which purpose it turned itself with the tail towards any one who an- 

 noyed it : but I make no doubt that, like other lizards, it would also bite if it had 

 the opportunity, when the compressive force of its jaws would render its small teeth 

 of some efficacy as a weapon. 



A fourth Indian species of this genus already described, and which is common to 

 Bengal, Siam, and the Malay countries, is the V. nebulosus of M. M, Dumeril 



* The larger of two specimens since obtained, measured sixty-one inches in total length, of 

 which the tail occupied thirty-four inches ; from muzzle to auditory orifice four inches and 

 a half ; and length of hind-limb, to the tip of claw of longest toe, ten inches and three-quarters. 



