90 
from an examination of the type specimens, I am enabled to 
restore the earlier name of L. bimrinatum (Macleay) to the 
species described under the name of L. albertisii (Peters k Doria) 
by Mr. Boulenger (Brit. Mus. Cat. (Ed. 2) iii. p. 286), who, 
however, suggested the probable identity of the two forms ; it is 
in any case a most variable species, and the two diagnoses quoted 
might well be described as the poles of the species, but leading 
insensibly by numerous intervening grades f rom the soberly attired 
L. bicar inatum to the handsomely marked L. albertisii . The species 
described as L. atrogulare is noteworthy as having a possibly 
sexual difference in coloration, the adult males (?) being provided 
with a black chin and throat, while the females, (?) and probably 
the young males, have these parts merely spotted. It is somewhat 
remarkable that no less than two of the three Skinks belong to 
the small section of Dumeril and Bibroifs genus Liolepisma , 
characterized by the presence of four fingers and five toes, and a 
single frontoparietal followed by a small interparietal, so that 
northern Australia and Papuasia appear to be the metropolis of 
this section of the genus Lygosoma . In connection with the 
marked variability in this species I am more than ever inclined 
to believe that L. tetradactylum (O’Shaughm), L.pectorale (DeVis), 
and L. maccooeyi (Rms. k Qgh), are correlative varieties of an 
allied species. 
Lialis burtoni. 
Lialis bicatenata, Gray, Brit. Mus, Cat . Lizards, p. 69 (1845). 
While temporarily accepting Mr. Boulenger’s dictum that the 
various forms of Lialis hitherto described “should be united into 
one species,” I may remark that, setting aside the wide differences 
in color, the equally marked variation in the length and tenuity 
of the snout appears sufficiently important to justify the retention 
of at the least two of Dr. Gray’s species. Our New Guinea 
specimen agrees most closely with Mr. Boulenger’s “ Var. H”, 
but it possesses a distinct, though narrow, cream-colored lateral 
band, extending from the angle of the mouth to the tip of the tail. 
Gonyocepiialus modestus. 
Gonyocephalus ( Ilypsilurus) modestus, Meyer, Mon . Bert. Ac. 
1874, p. 130. 
Snout pointed, equal to, or a little longer than, the diameter of 
the orbit ; nostril lateral much closer to the tip of the snout than 
to the eye ; canthus rostralis and supraciliary edge acute and 
projecting ; tympanum distinct, oval, its greatest diameter as 
large as the eye-opening ; interorbital space deeply concave ; 
upper head-scales small, keeled, not enlarged on the supraorbital 
region ; canthus rostralis and supraciliary edge with a row of 
enlarged, elongate, strongly keeled, raised scales, overlapping 
one another on the inside, and decreasing posteriorly to the 
