Annals of the Tkansvaal Museum. 
95 
or without a diffused brick-red patch at the side of the neck ; the tail 
pale-yellow. The males have much the same coloration as in the young, 
but in addition many of the darker dorsal scales have pale spots. 
M. varia Pet. — This is one of our smallest species of mabuia, the total 
length (British Museum Catalogue) being 165 mm. It resembles M. 
homalocephala in appearance, but is at once distinguished by the character 
of the spinose soles and sub-digital lamellae. From M. striata , with which 
it may be easily confused, it is usually distinguishable by means of the 
character of the subocular, but when this fails recourse must be made to 
the colour marking, and the white sharply defined continuous lateral 
streak of varia seems to be very constant, excepting in the very young. 
In a single adult specimen of Mabuia varia , kindly lent by Mr. Fitz- 
simons, of the Port Elizabeth Museum, the white lateral streak is altogether 
wanting, and dorsally the colour is uniformly brown, except for some few 
small black spots. 
It is almost impossible in some cases to distinguish between the very 
young specimens of the two species, for the young of varia may or may 
not have the characteristic white line of the species, though there is always 
at least a trace of it in the neck region ; and in the young the subocular 
reaches the extreme limit of reduction, thus bringing it within the range 
of striata. 
Moreover, the young of striata, like that of varia, may have a whitish 
lateral streak in the neck region, and pale dorso-lateral bands or streaks 
on the body, but it usually has also dark-brown spots or reticulations on 
the head, a character which is only rarely present in the young of varia, 
though it may occur more frequently in adults ; as a rule the white lateral 
streak of a young striata is not so sharply defined nor so white as that of varia, 
whilst the pale dorso-lateral streaks of varia are not so broad nor so con- 
spicuous as those of striata. Other characters which may be employed in 
doubtful cases are : the ear lobules in varia are longer and more pointed than 
those of striata ; in varia the dorsal body scales are not so much transversely 
elongated as in striata ; in striata the dorsal scales of the tail are con- 
siderably elongated transversely at a point quite near the base of the tail, 
whereas in varia the transverse elongation of the caudal scales commences 
more posteriorly, and is not so pronounced as in striata. 
Lygosoma sundevalli Smith. — All the specimens I have seen have had 
completely smooth dorsal scales, and the colour is light-brown dorsally, 
the scales darker at the sutures ; ventrally uniformly yellowish - white, 
and the sides also are without spots. 
The head scutes do not vary much. A specimen from Windhoek 
(German South-West Africa) has the fifth and sixth upper labials as sub- 
oculars, whereas more usually it is the fourth and fifth. 
Ablepharus waMbergi Smith. — In life the ventral surfaces are pink ; 
sometimes there is a fairly conspicuous white lateral streak, commencing 
on the upper lip and passing through the ear. 
The scutellation of the head varies somewhat in specimens from the 
same locality ; for instance, the frontal may form a broad suture with 
the fronto-nasal, or they may be completely separated by the meeting 
of the prefrontals in the mid-line. 
