BRACHYMELES 247 



Variation. — I have examined large series of this species from 

 Polillo, Los Banos, Mindoro, and Negros. They vary in the 

 relation of the head scales. Thus, the supranasals are in con- 

 tact in eleven specimens, in twenty-six they are separated; the 

 prefrontals are never in contact; the parietals are in contact in 

 nineteen specimens, separated in eighteen; frontoparietals sep- 

 arated in four specimens, in contact in thirty-three; the first 

 pair of chin shields is in contact in twenty-nine specimens, 

 separated narrowly in eight. The distance from snout to fore- 

 leg is contained in axilla-to-groin distance 2.1 to 2.6 times 

 (average 2.46) ; the length of hind leg in axilla-to-groin dis- 

 tance, 3 to 4.3 times, the average being 3.6 times. The size and 

 arrangement of the second pair of chin shields are invariable in 

 all specimens examined. The variation in relative proportion of 

 leg and body length is due largely to the age of the specimens. 

 Scale rows vary from 24 to 28. A specimen from Canlaon Vol- 

 cano, Negros, has 30. Sometimes the fourth labial is broken 

 and the fourth and fifth enter orbit. 



Remarks. — This species was regarded as identical with 

 Brachymeles gracilis (Fischer) due to the fact that I did not 

 have Fischer's original description at hand, but depended on 

 Boulenger's Catalogue for the identification of the species. I 

 have recently obtained a photographic copy of Fischer's work 

 and find that Brachymeles suluensis Taylor is identical with 

 B. gracilis (Fischer) and that the species which Boulenger calls 

 5. gracilis is the species here described but most certainly not 

 B. gracilis (Fischer). I have named the species for Dr. G. A. 

 Boulenger, the eminent herpetologist of the British Museum. 

 Note the comparative measurements at the end of the descrip- 

 tion of Brachymeles gracilis in this work. 



BRACHYMELES GRACILIS (Fischer) 



Eumeces (Riopa) gracilis Fischer, Jahrb. wiss. Anst. Hamburg 2 



(1885) pi. 3, %. 1. 

 Brachymeles suluensis Taylor, Philip. Journ. Sci. § D 13 (1918) 254. 



Description, of species. — (From No. 1666,''' Bureau of Science 

 collection ; collected on Bubuan Island,t Tapiantana group, Sulu, 

 September, 1917, by E. H. Taylor.) Snout blunt, rather flat- 

 tened; rostral bent back over end of snout, forming a moderate 



* Type of Brachymeles suluensis Taylor. 



t There are several islands in the Sulu Archipelago by this name. One 

 is in the Tapiantana group, and a second lies to the south in the Tapul 

 group. 



