1842.] Asiatic Society. 869 



and Bibron ; being stated to be one of those wherein the muzzle is most pointed. Ac- 

 cordingly, this is at once a distinction which separates from it a small specimen in 

 the Society's Museum, which appears to be of an undescribed species, and I shall 

 therefore venture to designate it V. Bibronii. It is remarkable for the great length 

 of its tail, but in other respects is nearly allied to V. Bengalensis : its naral apertures 

 are situate as in that species, but the head is less flat, and a peculiar character con- 

 sists in a group of central plates between the eyes, which are considerably less mi- 

 nute than the remainder of those upon the head. Length of the specimen twenty 

 inches and a quarter, of which the tail measures thirteen inches, being very much 

 drawn out at the end ; at base it is perfectly cylindrical for about two inches, when the 

 double serrated crest commences, which is not so strongly marked as in V. Bengalen- 

 sis, the tail becoming thence more compressed to its extremity. General colour 

 bright olive-brown, marked all over the body with longitudinal rows of alternately 

 larger and smaller angular black spots ; head tinged with yellow, and marked with a 

 dark ring surrounding the group of larger scales between the eyes, behind which is a 

 dark semi-circle pointing backwards, then another ring, flanked by a lateral black 

 line along each side; the usual dark mark behind each eye, but narrow, and 

 continued along the side of the neck; fore-limbs mottled with brown, olive, and 

 yellow, having a streak of the last along each toe ; the hind limbs a»d also the flanks 

 shewing scattered pale yellow spots, which are surrounded by dusky-brown forming 

 ocelli; tail indistinctly mottled, and yellowish for its terminal two-fifths, beneath, and 

 the rest of the lower parts, also yellowish, irregularly marked with brown, the neck 

 banded with dusky underneath, and between each of the bands a transverse row of 

 spots. The specimen thus described is preserved in spirits : and I find that we have 

 also a stuffed skin, which appears to be referrible to the same. This was received 

 from Madras, and confiding in the judgment of an eminent Zoological acquaintance 

 who has much studied the Indian Reptilia, I referred it to V. binotatus in my first 

 Report to the Society. The length of this is twenty-three inches, of which the tail 

 measures thirteen inches, but the neck is made rather longer than it ought to be. 

 Colour above dusky brown-black, relieved with a few scattered inconspicuous whitish 

 scales ; beneath yellowish-white, mottled with spots and specks of dusky except under 

 the tail, while the fore-neck is greyish and rather more densely mottled : the group of 

 larger scales between the orbits is paler than the rest; and on the flanks and thighs 

 are scattered ocelli as in the other specimen. I have little doubt that this is the 

 species which I observed to be brought in considerable numbers to the bazar at 

 Madras, being much eaten there by the natives; but I hope soon to receive some 

 large specimens from that locality, which will determine the question. I certainly 

 remember to have particularly noticed the great length of tail in the Madras species, 

 by means of knotting which round the limbs the dealers disabled them from running 

 away. 



A species of Varanus, additional to those described in the very excellent work of 

 M. M. Dumeril and Bibron, was obtained in the island of Mindanado by Mr. 

 Cuming, and is described as V. Cumingi by Mr. Martin in Proc. Zool. Soc. for 1838, 

 p. 69; and in the same work for 1831, p. 137, is a notice of the anatomy of a Varanus 

 by the same author, which had lived for some time in London at the gardens of the 

 Zoological Society. 



