DISTRIBUTION 37 



nants of much older faunas, and not recent arrivals. The nearest 

 relative of Lanthonotus is found in southern North America. 

 No other representative has been discovered in the Old World. 

 The Anguidse have their largest number of representatives in 

 Central America and the West Indies, v^ith species in both North 

 and South America. Two genera occur in Europe, each repre- 

 sented by one species, and one genus v^ith one species in Asia. 

 This is Ophisaurus gracilis of India, which is the locality nearest 

 to Borneo where a representative of this family occurs. Ophi- 

 sauTMs is a very widespread genus, having only a few species, 

 but these occur on four different continents. 



There are twenty-eight recognized genera in the Philippine 

 Islands, about thirty in Borneo, and about twenty-five in the 

 Celebes-Moluccas group. Twenty-one genera are common to 

 Borneo and the Philippines, and all but two of these are also 

 found in the Celebes-Moluccas group; the exceptions are He- 

 miphyllodactylus (which very probably also occurs in the latter 

 islands) and Ptychozoon. There are three endemic genera in 

 the Philippines; these are Brachymeles, Luperosaurus, and 

 Pseudogekko. Lanthonotus is the only known endemic genus 

 in Borneo. The Philippines have three genera in common with 

 the Celebes-Moluccas group which are as yet unknown in Borneo ; 

 these are Lygosoma, Otosaurus, and Hydrosaiirus. One genus, 

 Perochirus, is known only in Mindanao and in the Caroline 

 Islands. 



Of the nine Bornean genera not found in the Philippines, Taky- 

 dromus, Ophisaurus, Japalura, and Aphaniotis are common to 

 Borneo, to the islands lying south and west, and to Asia ; Homo- 

 lepida is common to Borneo, Celebes, Java, and Sumatra. Gono- 

 todes and Aleuroscalabotes have representatives in Australia and 

 the Malay Peninsula, but they are apparently absent from Cele- 

 bes, Java, and Sumatra; Mimetozoon is common to Borneo and 

 the Malay Peninsula; and Lanthonotus, as remarked above, is 

 endemic. 



Of the three Celebes-Moluccas genera not known in the Philip- 

 pines Cryptoblepharis is widely distributed over Polynesia, Aus- 

 tralia, Africa:, Asia, and Japan, but appears to be wanting in 

 Borneo, the Philippines, and even in Celebes proper ; Homolepida 

 occurs in Borneo; and Tiliqua has representatives in Australia 

 and New Guinea. 



Brachymeles is the most important and most distinctive of the 

 three endemic Philippine genera; it is represented by eight 

 species and exhibits a great diversity of size and development 

 or degeneration of limb. No species is known to occur in 



