134 
F. Stoliczka — On Indian Lizards. 
[No. 2, 
through Central India northwards as far as Rurki and Hardwar, and east- 
wards as far as Calcutta, but it is very rare here. I have only within the 
last year obtained two specimens on the western side of the Hughli river 
at Howrah, hut do not know of any record of the species eastward of the 
Hughli, that is even in Calcutta itself. 
A third species which I have to notice is Linne’s It. 'punctata from 
South India and the Dakhin (Delihan). The structure and colour of 
this closely corresponds with that of albopunctata from Bengal, but the 
difference in size is very great, the former often attaining 12 inches. The 
number of scales round the body is usually 24, and those between fore and 
hind limb 78 — 84. Colour, brown above and at the sides, pale below, all 
scales with blackish, and the anterior half of sides with white, spots. 
At Matheran near Bombay (about 2,500 feet on the trappean plateau) I 
have met with a peculiar form, which might be looked upon as a hybrid or a 
transitional form, between It. albopunctata and It. Ilardwickii. The form of 
the body, its structure, proportions of the limbs and the posteriorly narrowed 
vertical shield best agrees with punctata, as described. The largest specimen 
measures only 7 £ inches, the body being 3) inches. Of eight specimens examined, 
all have 26 longitudinal rows of scales, a number tolerably common in 
Ilardwickii, but rarely to be met with in typical punctata. There are 74 — 80 
transverse rows of scales between the limbs, agreeing with punctata. The co- 
louration is exactly the same as in a pale It. Ilardwickii : above and at the sides 
more or less dark brown, a pale brown or yellowish band on each side from the 
snout to the base of the tail, anterior half of sides of body with white dots ; 
below whitish ; all scales have blackish spots which sometimes become obsolete 
on the lower side. It is really difficult to decide to which species this particular 
form, which I have just noticed, should be referred. The structure and form 
of the body agrees best with punctata, while the colouration is that of 
Hardivickii, and the size is intermediate between both. To consider the 
Matheran form as an independent species, seems to me quite unnatural ; it is 
certainly nothing else than a local variety, and most probably the same which 
Jerdon notices as It. Ilardwickii from the Carnatic, ‘ 9 inches’ long (J. A. S. 
B., xxii, p. 478). The question to be answered is : do we know the young 
punctata in all its progressive stages up to the adult ? I got the adult from 
Puna, and with it one younger specimen which has the general colouration 
of Ilardwickii, the body is 2'6 inches, greater than in any known Ilardwickii 
from the N. West or Central Provinces, tail reproduced, short, 24 longitudi- 
nal rows round the body, and 80 transverse rows of scales between the 
limbs. If we have to look upon this specimen as the young of punctata, what 
I do not doubt it really is, and take into consideration what I said about true 
Ilardwickii and the Matheran form, the only reasonable conclusion we can 
draw is, that punctata and Ilardwickii are actually only one species which 
