THE FAUNA OF A DESERT TRACT IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 187 



In life this lizard has. a beautiful but subdued coloration which rapidly disappears 

 after death. The following description was taken from a living specimen : Ventral sur- 

 face pinkish white ; dorsal surface buff with a greenish tinge, with scattered white 

 tubercles ; three pale olive-green cross bars, each edged with white ; supraocular region 

 leaf-green. 



Teratolepis scabriceps, sp. nov. 

 Diagnosis. 



Habit rather stout, limbs short ; tail cylindrical, swollen at the base, tapering dis- 

 tally; head large, flat ; forehead convex ; snout slightly longer than orbit, rounded, blunt. 

 Head, dorsal surface of neck and shoulders covered with small, highly convex, rounded 

 scales, which are smallest on the vertex and largest just above the fore-limbs. Scales 

 on dorsal surface of the trunk not much larger than those on the belly, leaf- shaped, 

 strongly imbricate, keeled or almost smooth. Two pairs of enlarged chin-shields, fol- 

 lowed posteriorly by a number of irregular granules, the first pair meeting behind the 

 mental ; 7 to 8 upper, 6 to 8 lower labials ; nostril between the rostral and several 

 small scales. Colour pale grey, with a coarse and irregular reticulation of black and 

 white on the back. 



Dimensions 2 



Total length 



75 mm 





Head 



14 „ 





Body 



3i „ 





Tail 



30 „ 





Fore- limb 



9 „ 





Hind Limb 



r t~i * * 1 1 1 j t 



15 » 



Two specimens from Ramanad ; one an adult female containing two large eggs, the 

 other half-grown. 



The pupil is vertical, as it probably is in T. fasciata also. T. scabriceps is 

 the second species of the genus to be described. The type form is only known from a 

 few specimens, all of which appear to be in a bad state of preservation, from Central 

 India and Sind. The new species differs from it (1) in its less graceful habit and shorter 

 limbs ; (2) in the possession of conical rounded scales on the head and fore-quarters ; 

 and (3) in having two pairs of distinctly enlarged chin-shields. Unfortunately the type 

 of T. fasciata, the only other specimen of the genus to which I have access, is almost 

 wholly disintegrated ; but sufficient remains of the skin on the head and of the limbs to 

 show that these differences are real ones. 



Teratolepis and Calodactylus (the latter from North Arcot) are the only genera of 

 their family peculiar to the Indian Fauna, both being highly specialized genera. 



SlTANA PONTICERIANA. 



Very common throughout Ramanad, both on the seashore immediately above high 

 tide-mark and inland. 



I can bear out the statements of Jerdon and Blanford that this is, under natural 



