188 DR. N. ANNANDALE ON 



conditions, a ground lizard ; but in captivity it is fond of resting on twigs stuck upright in 

 the ground. In the middle of August the breeding season 1 was evidently about to com- 

 mence. The gular appendage of the male was, in most cases, just asuming its brilliant 

 coloration. In some specimens the anterior margin was bluish-grey, the remainder being 

 dirty white ; in others this margin was of a brilliant " Oxford " blue, the breadth of the 

 streak thus formed varying with the degree of development. Within the blue streak scarlet 

 spots were more or less conspicuous, first appearing as of a dirty grey colour. An addi- 

 tional ornamentation was very noticeable in fully developed living specimens, viz., a pearly 

 iridiscence on the scales of the throat at the base of the appendage. These brilliant 

 ornaments were quite absent in the females. The appendage is not a pouch and has 

 no connection with the air-passages or the lumen of the gullet. It consists of a deep fold 

 of skin, the cavity of which is filled with connective and muscular tissue, the latter 

 taking the form of a stout band attached above to the base of the tongue and below 

 to the lower extremity of the anterior margin of the appendage. When this muscle 

 is tautened the anterior margin is drawn down into a vertical position, and the appen- 

 dage, which is otherwise pressed tightly against the throat, is unfolded like a fan. 

 The male, if undisturbed, may be watched standing with the fore-quarters well 

 raised from the ground and the hind-quarters pressed back on the base of the tail (the 

 distal extremity of which is raised in the air), alternately unfolding and folding the ap- 

 pendage. The female or females, to attract which the performance takes place, remain 

 concealed beneath a bush or stone in the neighbourhood. If a male is roughly handled 

 the appendage is likewise unfolded in the excitement of the struggle. 



The arched position of the tail, with the base resting on the ground and the tip 

 raised in the air, is very characteristic of this Lizard. When running it occasionally 

 raises its fore-limbs from the ground, and the weight of the body is always supported 

 very largely on the base of the tail. Several other Agamids have been observed to 

 adopt a bipedal mode of locomotion when moving rapidly. The most notable instance 

 is that of the Australian Frill Lizard." Green has noted the same habit as regards 

 Otocryptis bivittata 3 in Ceylon, and I have done so as regards CaJotes versicolor i in Malaya. 

 Mr. L. L. Fermor, of the Geological Survey of India, tells me that he has seen in Kumaon 

 an Agama (probably A. tuberculata) momentarily assume an almost upright attitude, 

 with the fore-limbs well raised from the ground, when running away. 



1 Living females brought to Calcutta from Ramanad became distended with eggs in September, in which month one died 

 egg-bound. The eggs were then large, but devoid of an outer covering and amorphous in outline The distention of the body 

 continued till December. Another specimen then died and was dissected. The oviduct contained eggs with a very tough 

 leathery shell devoid of calcareous matter. They were rounded at either end and measured 10 mm. by 5 mm. In each the embryo, 

 which had already passed through the earlier stages of development, was visible to the naked eye. Other similar eggs were 

 laid about the same time and were buried by the parent in the sand, but soon died, if they were alive when laid, and shrivelled up. 

 Rai R. B. Sanyal, Bahadur, Superintendent of the Calcutta Zoological Gardens, has called my attention to the long period for which 

 house Geckos (V Hemidactylus flaviviridis) go with eggs, and is inclined to regard the long retention of the eggs by S. ponti- 

 ceriana in captivity as possibly not abnormal. I lately saw large numbers of this lizard in open jungle in Chota Nagpur. 

 Living among dead leaves or a dry, greyish soil, they were much darker and duller during life than specimens from the sandy 

 wastes of S. India. They were also all very small. (March 8th, 1906. — N.A.) 



2 Saville Kent in Nature, LXVI, p. 630. 



3 Ibid., p. 492. 



4 lb id., p. 577. Colonel Alcock permits me to say that he has seen Calotes versicolor running across his lawn in Calcutta 

 with the fore-limbs raised from the ground. 



