EEPTILIA. 
9 
are often faint and small, or some of them are wanting, whilst in other specimens 
additional spots are fonnd on the sides. It is evident that the colonration varies, in the case 
of P. tlieobaldi, to a great extent, and therefore it wonld he impossible to fonnd a specific 
distinction npon it without stronger differences. 
There is one difference which, if constant, wonld he of great importance. P. tlieohaldi, 
as Theobald has shown, is viviparous (or, more correctly ovo-viviparons), and I find foeti in 
the females, whereas I find only eggs in the oviducts of a female P. forsytU. But this 
may depend on the time of year, the pregnant females of the former species having been 
captured at a later period of the season. 
Dr. Anderson omits to point out the characters which led him to suppose that P. 
forsythi was a distinct species. I may have overlooked some difference, hut I have examined 
both forms carefully, and I do not think the two can he distinguished by any constant 
character. 
The following is a description of P. tlieohaldi from the specimens before me: 
General form as in P. olwieri; tail a little longer than the head and body, rather thick 
at the base, tapering beyond, but much thicker throughout in some specimens than in others. 
In some cases the tip is laterally compressed, in others round. Limbs rather short, the 
hind limb reaches beyond the shoulder, and often to the head ; the fore limb does not reach 
the thigh. Scales of hack small, flat, or convex, often granular. The scales in the middle 
of the hack usually larger than those of the sides. A few rather larger scales are some¬ 
times scattered over the sides, hut they are not much larger than the others. The black 
scales forming spots on the hack are sometimes more pointed. Scales on the head larger 
than those on the hack; usually the largest are on the occiput. Dpper labials with projecting 
rounded, or pointed margin along the edge of the lip, lower labials straight edged. Scales 
on upper surface of limbs generally faintly, sometimes more strongly keeled, often almost 
or quite smooth. Scales of lower parts smooth. Tail scales smooth, except towards the 
end, where they are usually keeled, more strongly below than above. 
Usual colour above olive-grey, varying in tint, and more or less spotted with black; 
sometimes the ground colour is pale, almost cream-coloured, and the spots form ocelli. 
Sometimes, besides the black marks, there are whitish spots of various sizes. The variety 
JP.forsytJii has usually four or five pairs of black spots on the hack, and is bluish-grey in colour. 
The tail has dusky spots along each side; these are never, except towards the tip, joined 
across the lower surface as in P. Olivieri^ hut they frequently meet above. Tip of the tail 
not unfrequently black, and in many specimens (espeeially males, though it is not confined 
to them) the central portion of the abdomen is black ; this colour sometimes extending to the 
whole, or nearly the whole, lower surface of the body and head. 
6. Phetnocephalijs axillaeis. Plate I, fig. 4. ’' i 
W. Blanf. : Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, 1875, xliv, Pt. 2, p. 192. 
P. majori Icevis, cauda elongata, pede anteriore in adulto nix femur attingente, squamis 
omnibus Iceribus^ caudce apicem versus exceptis; supra griseus, macula rubra utrinque post 
axillam notatus, membris cauddque fasciis fuscis transversis signatis, hac ad medium fusco- 
