146 



Description of new 



Dura, and Bibron), but the sides of the head near the ears are spi- 

 nose, and the nape is distinctly crested. But as MM. Dumerii and 

 Bibron's species is only described from a single specimen, which is in 

 a bad state, and has lost its epidermis, and as the description itself, 

 though long, refers chiefly to parts which do not differ in the species 

 of the genus, this species may prove to be identical with it. 



These authors, in giving the character of Grammatophora Gaimardii 

 and G. Decresii, appear to place great reliance on the one having 

 tubular and the other non-tubular femoral pores, which is a fact en- 

 tirely dependent on the state in which the animal might be at the time 

 when it was put into the spirits, as I have verified by comparing 

 numerous specimens of different reptiles furnished with these pores. 



But in this genus the size of the pores is apparently of less im- 

 portance than in many others, for they appear to be quite invisible 

 in some states of the animal : thus out of many specimens of G. mu- 

 ricata brought by Mr. Gould from Van Diemen's Land and Western 

 Australia, eight specimens have no visible pores ; these specimens differ 

 from the others in being of a rather paler colour beneath. This state 

 of the pores may entirely depend on the manner in which they were 

 preserved, for all these specimens had a slit made into their abdo- 

 men to admit the spirits ; while in all specimens in which this care 

 had not been taken the pores are distinctly seen, sometimes moderately 

 sized, and sometimes tubularly produced. 



Grammatophora Decresii, Dumerii and Bibron, Erp. Gen. iv. 472. 

 Tail conical, with nearly regular scales ; the base rather swollen 1 

 without any series of spines on the side; back with small sub- 

 equal scales and a few larger once in cross series ; the nape and 

 back with a series of rather larger, low, compressed scales; side 

 of the head near the ears and side of neck with two or three 

 ridges crowned with short conical spines. In spirits black, yej- 

 low spotted and varied, beneath gray, vermiculated with black- 

 ish ; tail black-ringed. 

 Inhab. Western Australia. 



This species is so much smaller than G. muricata, that I might have 

 considered them as young animals if one of them had not had the body 

 filled with well-formed eggs ; and the tail is much shorter than in the 

 young of that species. 



The specimens agree in most points with the description given by 

 MM. Dumerii and Bibron, but not in the colour and the size of the tail. 

 The specimens in this collection greatly differ in their colour, but are 

 all very different from any other species. 



