Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 
67 
South African zoological area should take in German East Africa 
(perhaps also British East Africa), British Central Africa, and Angola ; 
that is to say, roughly speaking, Africa south of the equator, the Congo 
basin excepted. We should thus include the whole of the Zonuridae, 
practically all the Gerrhosauridae — though G. flavigularis apparently 
extends into Southern Egypt — and in addition to the genera previously 
mentioned in the Geckonidae, all the species of Pachydactylus, the genera 
Diplodactylus (Australia, Madagascar, and German East Africa) and 
Platypholis (German East Africa), an ally of Homopliolis, in the Scincidae 
the allied genera Melanoseps and Sepsina which are related to Sepophis 
of Southern India, the genus Sepsina occurring also in Madagascar, 
and the genus Typhlacontias which is related to Acontias. The 
question may now be asked to what extent will the distribution of the 
other sections of the South African lizard fauna conform to the new 
arrangement. We have already seen that the families Agamidae, Lacertidae, 
Amphisbaenidae, and Varanidae form very few strongly-marked associations 
of species and still less of genera in the South African region as ordinarily 
defined, so that it could matter little if the distribution of these families 
should lend no support to this proposal for a greater South Africa. As a 
matter of fact, however, they are decidedly in agreement : in the case of a 
number of genera (Scapteira, Eremias, Nucras) certain representatives, 
either singly or in groups of species which occur in the western portion of 
the sub-continent, extend northwards into Angola and similarly genera in 
the eastern portion have species which are common to the Transvaal and 
German East Africa but not extending further north, or in these two areas 
are comprised all the species belonging to the same section of a large genus 
(cp. Ichnotropis squamulosa , the hispida section of Agama ) : and thus the 
proposed region would now include several additional genera peculiar to 
the area (Ichnotropis, Nucras) from which we may conclude that the com- 
paratively recent Ethiopian fauna has really been in South Africa for a 
long period seeing that in this area peculiar genera have been evolved. 
The present distribution of the Chamaeleons is somewhat puzzling, 
and, at first sight, difficult to explain in terms of the preceding hypotheses. 
According to Werner, the species constitute a number of structurally 
distinct groups, as follows : — The characteristic South African group goes 
along with a number of East African species and with the species 
common to the Seychelles and Zanzibar (Mocquard doubts the Zanzibar 
record for C. tigris ; this is a point of considerable importance, in view of 
the great isolation of the Seychelles Islands) : the distribution of the whole 
group almost coinciding with the larger South Africa. The species 
anchietae , of Angola, is considered by Mocquard (see Werner’s monograph) 
to be identical with lateralis of Madagascar. This (or these) species 
belongs to a group which comprises another Madagascar species and two 
species from East Africa. The Indian, Arabian, Socotran, Syrian, North 
African, and Mediterranean species are all comprised in the section of nine 
species, which includes one West African species and three species 
occurring north of the equator stretching from west to east, two of them 
also extending far southwards ( dilepis and gracilis'). Another whole 
section of fourteen species is made up entirely of Madagascar and Comoro 
species. A section of ten species is composed of- Madagascar and East 
African forms ; and another section of nine species divides itself between 
the same two areas. Another section of ten species is made up of five 
West African (Kamerun and Gabun) species and five from East Africa. 
G. namaquensis is a section in itself. 
