104 
Anjtals of the Transvaal Museum, 
suture with the frontal ; or not infrequently the prefrontals may form a 
broad median suture. The tympanic shield also shows considerable varia- 
tion, and occasionally may be relatively broad, but I have not seen any 
specimen where the breadth was as much as half the height. The colour 
marking is fairly constant, but in the largest specimens the pale dorso- 
lateral streak may be indistinct or absent. The breeding male has a bright 
brick-red coloration on either side of the cheeks and neck, extending 
along the lips and on to the mental scute. 
Gerrhosaurus auritus Btgr. — I have not seen this species, but am 
inclined to suspect its validity, for the author distinguished it from nigro- 
lineatus by the following characters: In auritus the tympanic shield is 
enlarged, being half as broad as high, which is not normally the case in 
nigrolineatus ; in auritus there are eight temporal shields, whereas in 
Congo specimens of nigrolineatus there are eleven temporal shields ; in 
auritus the scales of the outermost row of belly shields are as broad as 
those of the inner rows. Now the first-mentioned character is variable 
in flavigularis, the tympanic shield sometimes becoming almost as broad 
as is described for auritus ; the second character is of no value, for our 
series of flavigularis shows variation from five to ten temporal scutes ; 
the third character is also very variable in flavigularis, and although the 
outermost ventral scales are generally narrower than those of the inner 
series, this is less pronouncedly the case in larger specimens. 
Gerrhosaurus validus Smith. — The degree of enlargement of the tym- 
panic scale is highly variable, the free part sometimes forming an acute 
angle, and at other times being obtuse or broadly rounded at the apex ; 
in the young it is narrow and bandlike. The anterior nasals form only 
a short median suture, and in one case (out of six) the fronto-nasal just 
meets the rostral. The young have many pale spots dorsally, whilst 
laterally there are a number of vertical pale streaks. 
Genhosaurus major A. Dum. (synonym G. grandis Boul.) — The 
species from Ubombo (Zululand), described as G. grandis Boul. (Annals 
Natal Government Museum, Vol. 1, Part 3, 1908), occurs also in the Bar- 
berton District. We have two specimens, one from Kaapmuiden and 
the other from Malalane (W. Bolton). The description of the species, 
based on a solitary specimen, agrees entirely with that of major (a Zanzibar 
species), except as follows : Only fourteen longitudinal rows of scales 
dorsally, and with a cylindrical tail (but in the figure which accompanies 
the description sixteen longitudinal rows are represented, and apparently 
also the tail is slightly compressed laterally in its posterior half), whereas 
major is described as having eighteen or twenty rows of scales dorsally, 
and the tail slightly compressed in the posterior half. There is also a 
difference of coloration. Now our specimens, which agree precisely in 
coloration and general habitus with the figure and description of grandis, 
have the following characters : Eighteen longitudinal rows of scales dor- 
sally in the larger specimen, and sixteen rows in the smaller specimen ; 
in both specimens the tail is laterally compressed in the posterior half ; 
in the younger specimen anteriorly also. It is evident therefore that our 
Barberton specimens agree exactly with G. major in the structural 
