96 
Annals of the Transvaal Museum, 
A. meleagris L., and A. plumbeus Bian. — These two species are very 
closely allied, and it is not possible to distinguish them simply on scutella- 
tion characters. In adult specimens of plumbeus the first supraocular is 
appreciably longer than the second and third together, but in younger 
individuals this may not be the case, whilst on the other hand it occasionally 
happens that specimens of meleagris have precisely the same relations of 
the supraoculars as in plumbeus. 
I have not found any constant difference in the numbers of the scaling ; 
the number of ventrals in each case is about 150 or 155. The two species 
are best distinguished by the colour and by the general build, plumbeus 
being relatively stouter and shorter than meleagris, as shown by the 
following measurements in inches, expressing the relationship of the greatest 
breadth to the total length. 
A. meleagris : J-— 8J- ; AwtVI ts — 9J’r- ¥k~~ H| ; If — Ilf. 
A. plumbeus : T V — 8; — 11 \. 
Acontias lineatus Pet., and A. grayi Boul. — I think the latter species 
is merely a colour variety of A. lineatus , for the structural characters on 
which A. grayi were founded prove to be highly variable, and afford no 
sound basis for separation from lineatus. 
The South African Museum has a long series of A. lineatus, and 
typically coloured specimens show the following characters : usually the 
frontal is equal in length to the fronto-nasal, and is a little longer than the 
interparietal; sometimes the frontal is longer than the fronto-nasal, and 
often it is much longer than the interparietal ; rarely the interparietal is 
longer than the fronto-nasal, and in one case the frontal and interparietal 
were fused together. The interparietal may be longitudinally elongated, 
or it may be as broad as long, and there may be either one or two supra- 
oculars. 
Usually the head is fuscous laterally, but sometimes it is infuscated 
dorsally on every scute ; the dark lines on the body may be very thin or 
they may be thick. One specimen which in respect to the head characters 
agrees precisely with the original description, is uniformly brown on the 
dorsal surface of the body, and yellowish-white laterally and ventrally. 
The head is fuscous laterally, but pale dorsally, as in typical specimens of 
lineatus. There are two specimens which agree more or less completely 
with the description of A. grayi. One is brown and the other blue-black, 
the colour in each case being more pronounced dorsally, and both have the 
frontal longer than either the fronto-nasal or the interparietal. One of 
these specimens came along with two of A. lineatus S. str., from O'grabis 
(Namaqualand), from the same collector (A. L. Streuss). In view of this 
fact, and more especially that but for the colour character the above- 
mentioned two specimens of A. grayi would fit well in a series A. lineatus , 
I believe that these specimens should be considered as colour varieties of 
lineatus. 
Acontias meleagris L., and A. lineatus Pet. — The Albany Museum has 
a long series of lineated specimens of Acontias meleagris. In this species 
the largest specimens are uniformly coloured, and have eighteen scales 
round the body ; the smaller and middle-sized examples have usually eight, 
