or chrome-yellow margins. The tail with 8 or 9 complete rings of similar colour, without the margins. Beneath throat and belly whitish yellow, or pale brownish, each scale minutely dotted with brown. Pupil vertical, dentilated; iris golden, finely vermiculated with Van Dyke brown. HABIT. Pinang Hills. Singapore. In the male the two rows of femoral pores commence as two short parallel longitudinal lines, separated from each other by a narrow short furrow, on the sides of which, (vertically,) the first 5 femoral (preanal), pores are placed. In front of the anus the short vertical portions turn right and left under a nearly right angle, continuing the entire length of the thigh, each supporting 13 more femoral pores. The interval between the anus and the latter is partly occupied by a flat, slightly raised triangular space, covered by rather large, imbricate, rounded scales. In the female the two lines of larger scales carrying the femoral pores of the males, are present, each scale having a small shallow, round depression. The short, longitudinal furrow of the male is either wanting or barely distinguishable, but the triangular space with larger scales, in front of the anus, is present. The species appears to be rather numerous on the hills at Pinang, where the individuals obtained were captured in houses, at an elevation of 2,200 feet. The largest male was of the following dimensions : Length of the head, Ditto ditto tail, 14 inch. 3 54 Entire length, 10 inches. Its habits offer nothing peculiar: it bites fiercely in defence. In captivity it refuses insects. The integuments, when about being renewed, are piecemeal torn off by the teeth, and devoured. A single egg deposited was of a spherical form, about half an inch in diameter, of a whitish yellow colour. M. M. Duméril and Bibron assign Bengal as the Habitat of this species. The specimen originally described by Mr. Gray, some in the Museum of the Asiatic Society, and a number in my own collection, all are from the hills of Prince of Wales Island (Pulo Pinang,) but no authenticated record exists of this species ever having been observed in Bengal. Another, widely different species of Gymnodactylus inhabits Bengal, as yet not published, and only known from three specimens, preserved in spirits in the Museum of the Asiatic Society, where they are marked Gymnodactylus lunatus, Blyth. One of these came from Midnapore, the others from Chyebassa. The species somewhat approaches to G. fasciatus, Dum. and Bibr. (Cubina fasciata, Gray.) The Museum possesses another nondescript species from Almorah, Gymnodactylus nebulosus, Blyth, MSS. allied to G. marmoratus, (Gray). The plate of Cyrtodactylus pulchellus in Gray's Illustrations of Indian Zoology is not taken from life, and gives a most inadequate idea of the physiognomy and beauty of the living animal. This should be observed, as M. M. Duméril and Bibron praise the figure, which evidently has served as original of their own description, and of copies introduced in illustrative works upon that order of animals. FAM. VARANIDE, Bonaparte, (PLATYNOTES, Dum. and Bibr.) GEN. VARANUS,-Merrem. Scales set side by side, surrounded by an annular series of very minute tubercles; tail above more or less trenchant; on the throat a fold in front of the chest. Varani aquatici,-Dum. and Bibr. VARANUS NEBULOSUS,-Duméril and Bibron. SYN.-Tupinambis nebulosus, Cuvier MSS. Monitor nebulosus, Gray. Monitor nebulatus, Schlegel. Varanus nebulosus, apud Gray: Catal. Muzzle very elongated; nostrils obliquely cleft, situated half-ways between the muzzle and the anterior angle of the eye; lips each with 50 scales; teeth compressed with sharp but not dentilated edges. Young.-Above. Ground-colour deep chocolate brown; the head largely marbled with greenish yellow; neck with indistinct obliquely converging gamboge lines; back, sides and limbs with gamboge spots, consisting of one to five scales, (those of the upper margins of the fingers forming continued lines;) sides of the anterior half of the tail, similarly coloured; the double row of scales covering the back of the tail gamboge; the posterior half deep chocolate with two distant, (the second subterminal,) indistinct gamboge coloured rings. Beneath. Ground-colour pale chocolate. Chin, throat, chest and forelimbs transversely undulated with greenish yellow; abdomen with short, interrupted, transversal yellow bands, consisting of from 4 to 12 scales; hind-limbs with larger similar spots; anterior half of the tail indistinctly marbled with yellowish green; posterior half like the upper surface. Pupil round; iris narrow golden. Adult.-Above brownish olive with yellow dots; anterior half of the tail yellow with minute square brown spots; posterior half brown and yellow-ringed; margins of the toes yellow. Beneath marbled and barred with brown and yellow. HABIT.-Pinang. Java, Siam, Bengal. The only individual observed was a young male, captured in the hills at Pinang, of the following dimensions : Muzzle obtuse; nostrils oval, oblique, nearer the muzzle than the orbit; a series of supraorbital scales larger than the rest; scales of the back distant, bluntly keeled, of the tail and outside of the hindlimbs closer, sharply keeled; toes very short, nails yellow. Above. Ground-colour light green-olive with numerous distant, interrupted, transversal, yellow bands; temples, cheeks and lips yellow. Beneath yellow; the throat with transversal pale brownish bands. HABIT. Pinang. Bengal, Nipal. A single male observed was of the following dimensions: Head very elongated; nostrils oval, nearly transversal, close to the muzzle; a series of supraorbital scales, larger than the rest; teeth with dentilated edges; toes very long. Above. Ground colour dark brown or black; a band on the side of the neck from the shoulder to the eye, 5 to 7 distant, transversal series of separate rings, between which numerous spots or interrupted transversal lines, all yellow or yellowish white; the outside of the limbs and the tail spotted, the latter indistinctly banded with yellow. Beneath yellow, the throat with indistinct transversal black bands and minute spots; the sides of the body and limbs in some individuals with large blackish dentilations. HABIT.-Malayan Peninsula, Pinang. Philippine and Molucca Islands, Amboina, Java, Bengal. This species is very numerous both in hilly and marshy localities. It is commonly during the day observed in the branches of trees overhanging rivers, preying upon birds and their eggs, and smaller lizards, and when disturbed, it throws itself from a considerable height into the water. When attacked on level ground, it attempts its escape by running, if possible towards the water. Its quickness however is not so great as to prevent a man from overtaking it, when it will courageously defend itself with teeth and claws and by strokes of the tail. The lowest casts of Hindoos capture these lizards commonly by digging them out of their burrows on the banks of rivers, for the sake of their flesh, which by these people is greatly relished.-Some individuals attain to nearly 7 feet in length, but the majority are smaller. A female examined was of the following dimensions: FAM. IGUANIDÆ, Gray, (EUNOTES, Duméril and Bibron ) SUB-FAM. ACRODONTINE (ACRODONTES, Dum. and Bibr.) GEN. CALOTES, Cuvier. Head quadrangular pyramidal, more or less elongated, with small angular scales of nearly equal diameter. Occipital scale minute. Tongue thick, fungous, rounded, with the apex slightly notched. In the upper-jaw 5 incisors and 2 canines. Nostrils lateral, pierced through a plate situated close to the muzzle. No transversal fold on the throat, sometimes with a large longitudinal fold on both sides. A gular pouch varying in size. A crest from the nape of the neck to the tail. Scales of the sides of the trunk homogeneous, imbricated in oblique series. No femoral pores. SUB.-GEN. BRONCHOCELA, Kaup. Scales of the trunk in oblique series, inclined backwards, their points directed downwards. Posterior part of the sides of the head not swollen. BRONCHOCELA CRISTATELLA, (Kuhl.) SYN.-Lacerta mexicana strumosa, &c. Seba, 89, 1. Agama cristatella, Kuhl. Agama gutturosa, Merrem. Bronchocela cristatella, Kaup, apud Dum. and Bibr. Agama moluccana, Lesson, apud Schinz. Calotes gutturosa, Guérin. Calotes cristatellus, Schinz. Calotes gutturosus, Wiegmann. Grúning" of the Malays of the Peninsula. Cervical crest (6 to 10 scales,) abruptly decreasing on the anterior part of the back; scales of the side of the trunk keeled, scarcely half the size of those of abdomen; behind the posterior angle of the orbit |