326 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



first noticed by F. Mocquard* in 1893 ; this character, however, 

 proved to be of no absolute value for specific distinctions, as 

 pointed out by Boulenger in the ' Zoological Record ' of the 

 same year. To verify the statement of the latter author, I 

 have examined a series of G. brevicornis (about fifty speci- 

 mens), which is included by Mocquard in a list of those species 

 possessing the pit distinctly. It was found to be visible only 

 indistinctly in two or three of them. This character, however, 

 is not developed in the East African Chameleons proper, but 

 is to be found in R. platyceps and R. brachyurus very distinctly 

 and constantly, both of which have been described since Moc- 

 quard's discovery. R. platyceps has the additional interesting 

 feature of inguinal pits in both sexes, a character hitherto un- 

 noticed in any Chameleons. 



These inguinal pits apparently are different in structure from 

 Mocquard's pits, which are to a great extent formed by the posi- 

 tion of the shoulder as applied to the body. In Rhampholeon 

 the pits take the character of large pores with small round ex- 

 ternal openings. An equally interesting character is the gular 

 pocket, which takes the form of a slit-like fold on each side of 

 the gular region, and are unnoticeable unless the folds are 

 pulled apart, appearing externally as the longitudinal ridges 

 found in many other species. My attention was first directed 

 to this on examining the only Museum specimen of G. goetzii, 

 before the publishing of Werner's work, who, I find, mentions 

 the character in connection with the protrusion of the tongue. 

 Tornier, the describer of C. goetzii, makes no mention of it. 

 The same feature occurs in G. ellioti in varying conditions. A 

 female specimen, 94 mm. in length, possesses a pouch measur- 

 ing 12*5 mm., darkly pigmented. This pigmentation, however, 

 is sometimes only partly present, or wholly absent. 



An examination of the twenty-five specimens of C. ellioti in 

 the Natural History Museum reveals the following variation : — 





Possessing 

 pouch. 



Not possess- 

 ing pouch. 



Deeply 

 wrinkled. 



Males 



1 

 9 



4 

 6 



5 



Females 





* C. E. Soc. Philom. 1893. 



