OTOSAURUS 165 



persist as dim, irregular, transverse bars on posterior part of 

 body and tail ; a series of ten or eleven large blackish spots begins 

 behind ear and continues to near groin ; the spots merge together 

 or are separated only by narrow bluish white lines; below this 

 row the color is broken and reticulated with darker; a short, 

 broken, dark line from eye to above ear ; tail barred or mottled 

 with dark ; undersurf aces brownish yellow. 



Measurements of Otosaurus cumingii Gray. 



mm. 



Total length 333 



Snout to vent 135 



Tail 198 



Snout to foreleg 48 



Axilla to groin 66 



Width of head 22 



Foreleg 49 



Hind leg 72 



Variation. — Three or four localities are represented by the 

 nine specimens in the collections studied; five are from Buna- 

 wan, Agusan. These agree with each other fairly well; how- 

 ever, the following variations are observable: Lower labials 

 vary between ten and twelve; the superciliaries between twelve 

 and fourteen; the scale rows between fifty and fifty-two. All, 

 save the specimen described, have the prefrontal and supraocular 

 separated; No. 863 (E. H. Taylor collection) is the largest, and 

 measures 144 millimeters from snout to vent; this specimen is 

 figured. The color on the belly is a dirty bluish yellow, the neck 

 and throat bluish, with most of the scales edged with black. One 

 specimen from Sumagui, Mindoro, varies from the described 

 specimen as follows: The interparietal is very large, and the 

 parietals form no suture; it has eight upper labials; fifty-two 

 scale rows; and the prefrontal and supraocular are in contact. 

 Two specimens from Limay, Bataan, Luzon, have sixteen to 

 eighteen superciliaries and fifty-eight to sixty scale rows. The 

 single specimen in the Bureau of Science collection (No. 1362, 

 from Mindanao) has fifty-six scale rows. 



The young usually have distinct vertical yellow bars on the 



side which divide the large black spots and terminate above in a 



larger yellow spot ; the spots on the back are usually represented 



by dim bars. This condition exists also in certain adult speci- 

 mens. 



Remarks. — Boulenger states that the lamellae are unicarinate ; 

 all the specimens examined have distinct bicarinate lamellae. 

 This is the largest Philippine skink and reaches a length of at 



