EAST AFRICAN LIZARDS. 



143 



collected at Dodomo on thorn-trees appear to belong to this 

 species. They are very small if so, the largest measuring 

 9 inches (90*140 mm.). Both are males with vermiculations on 

 the throat, which has a blue patch on the basal portion. 



A female taken at Nairobi (3. iv. 15) had 10 eggs in ovary, 

 20x10 mm. 



Z O N U R I D ^. 

 ZoNURUS TROPIDOSTERNUM (Cope). 



Blgr. Cat. Liz. ii. 1885, p. 252. 



A single specimen was taken at Makindu (Msiha River) and 

 eleven at Morogoi-o. The largest male (Morogoro) measured 

 7^ inches (90"90 mm., tip of tail missing), the largest female 

 (Makindu) measured 6| inches (95'75 mm.). 



These specimens entirely bear out the remarks made by 

 Nieden* after an examination of nineteen specimens from many 

 localities in G.E.A. All the specimens agree with ^. tropido- 

 sternum in the roughness of the head- scales, and the granular 

 interstices between the flank-scales. All except two agree with 

 tropidosternum in that the fronto-nasal scale is in contact with 

 the rostral. In these two the nasals separate the fronto-nasal 

 from the rostral, which is the key character for Z. cordylus. No 

 reliance can be placed on the arrangement of the head-scales in 

 this genus as a guide to specific character under these circum- 

 stances. It is rather interesting to note that one of these 

 specimens in which fronto-nasal and rostral are not in contact 

 was taken on the same day with a normal male and female, and 

 not only so, but within a few yards of them, two of the three 

 were seen to emerge fi'om a hole at the base of a wall ; the third 

 was killed at the same wall only a short distance from the hole. 



Two specimens were found in a half-drowned condition in road- 

 side gutters, having evidently been washed out of some retreat 

 by the heavy rains. The favourite haunt appeared to be hollow 

 trees, into whose interiors they would retreat and from which it 

 was difficult to get them. The Makindu female was brought into 

 camp in a hollow log which had been cut for fuel ; she had 

 remained while it was chopped down. She had four large eggs in 

 the ovary. 



Termites were taken from the stomachs of four of the 

 specimens. 



Parasitic worm (Oocharistica zomiri) proved to be new f. 



y A R A N I D .E. 



Yaranus xanthematicus albigularis (Daud.). 



Blgr. Cat. Liz. ii. 1885, p. 307. 



The only specimen of the Wlute-throated Monitor met with 



* Nieden, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 1913, vii, p. 71. 

 t Baylis, Parasitology, xi. 1919, p. 406. 



