II. — On some Lizards and Arachnids of Natal, 



by 



John Hewitt, B.A., Director of the Albany Museum, Grahamstown, 



Order LACERTILIA. 



According to his account in the ' Reise nach Mossambique,' Herpe- 

 tosaura was originally proposed by W. Peters to replace Lithophilus 

 of A. Smith, the latter name being pre-occupied. In such case, the 

 genotypes should be Lithophilus inomatus and L. bicolor, species 

 which have both been included in the genus Scelotes since the 

 publication of Boulenger's great work in the British Museum Catalogue 

 of Lizards. In separating their genera from Scelotes, both Smith and 

 Peters were chiefly impressed by the complete absence of hind limbs, 

 a character rightly rejected as generic by Boulenger, for variation in 

 limb characters is very great within the limits of the genus Scelotes, 

 even in its restricted sense. Another character which hitherto has 

 seemed of greater importance, being used by Boulenger to separate his 

 genus Herpetoseps from Scelotes, depends on whether or not the palatine 

 bones meet along the midline of the palate. Herpetoseps, founded on 

 the species H. anguina taken near Port Elizabeth, was however, 

 abandoned by its author in favour of Herpetosaura when it was found 

 that one of Peter's species of that genus was also characterised by the 

 possession of separated palatines. But this palatine character now 

 seems to me quite unsatisfactory, for intermediates between the 

 extreme condition are known. 



Scelotes natalensis, sp. nov. (Text-fig. 1). 



This is founded on two specimens from Durban, collected 16th 

 June, 1918, by Mr. S. Collins and now in the Durban Museum. They 

 are superficially much like Herpetosaura anguina, Blgr., both in colour 

 and scaling. However, the palatines are in contact along the median 

 line, though only for a short distance, and there is what may prove to 

 be a characteristic colour feature in the complete absence of dark spots 

 on both chin and throat, whereas in anguina only the chin is devoid 

 of black pigmentation. The lateral surfaces of the body in anguina 

 are also more deeply pigmented than in the Durban specimens, a more 



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