Annals of the Transvial Museum. 
63 
Ablepharus wahlbergi , the only representative in South Africa of a 
widely-distributed old world genus, has a very similar distribution : of this 
genus, four species occur in tropical Africa and one species which is nearly 
cosmopolitan occurs in Madagascar. 
The genus Acontias has about eight or nine species, and is known from 
South Africa, Madagascar, and Ceylon. A. meleagris occurs throughout 
South Africa, plumbeus is an eastern species ranging from East Cape 
Colony to Mozambique, and lineatus is a western species extending east- 
wardly across the Karroo. 
The genus Scelotes occurs in South Africa, Madagascar and Mauritius, 
and out of a total of twelve or thirteen species, South Africa has six. The 
South African and Madagascar species range themselves into distinct 
groups, except that one of the Madagascar species has its nearest ally in 
S. capensis. The species capensis , bicolor , caffer , and tridccctylus are 
western or Karroo forms ; bipes is found in the coastal regions of Cape 
Colony and Natal, whilst guentheri and inornatus are eastern forms, 
occurring in Zululand and Natal. 
Herpetosaura is a South African genus of three species ; anguinct 
occurs in Kaffraria, mira is a Transvaal species, and ctrenicola occurs in 
Natal, Zululand, and Mozambique. 
The genus Sepsina has about ten or eleven species in Madagascar, 
tropical and South Africa. S. weber i is only known from Little Nama- 
qualand, and grammica is indefinitely located on the south-west coast of 
Africa. 
The genus Typhlacontias has two species, one in Mossamedes and th e 
other, gracilis , in the Zambesi district. 
The genus Melanoseps, with only one species, ater , extends from 
German East Africa into Mozambique. 
I believe that the Scincidae of South Africa are for the most part of 
single origin, though at first sight this may not seem to be the case ; the 
vermiform genera, Acontias, Scelotes, and Herpetosaura, etc., certainly 
constitute part of the peculiarly South African fauna, Avhilst the species of 
Mabuia, Lygosoma, and Ablepharus genera, which are so widely distributed, 
may be more recent arrivals from elsewhere. But the species of Mabuia 
at any rate should be included in the endemic fauna, seeing that the genus 
is principally African and is well represented in South Africa and also in 
Madagascar ; the distribution of the genus may possibly be explained in 
the same way as that of the chamaeleons (see later) or perhaps on the 
grounds of its antiquity. 
Anelytropidae. 
This small family of worm-like lizards has a genus in each of the 
three areas Mexico, West Africa, and South Africa, but according to Gadow 
this is quite an artificial assembly of degenerates and no great importance 
is to be attached to the facts of distribution. The South African Typhlo- 
saurus has five species, of which lineatus and vermis are known from 
north-west Cape Colony, cregoi from the Zoutpansberg District, auran- 
tiacus from Zululand and Mozambique, whilst the precise locality of caecus 
is unknown. 
Ghamaeleontidae. 
Ten species of Chamaeleon and one Rhampholeon occur in South 
Africa, 
