CAITIA AFRICAN A.—G r a y .
R eptilia.—P late 76.—F ig. 1.—1 a, b, & c.
C. supeme auranteo-brunnea, subtus griseo-flava, plica lateral! versus caput pallide flava, lineis
brunnis verticalibus variegatä; extremitatibus anterioribus posterioribusque parvissimis, spuriis,
et indivisis.
Longitudo & nasi apice ad anum 2 unc. 9 lin.; caudse 9 unc. 6 lin.
Caitia Africana, Gray, Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. i, page 389.
Colour.—Head, back, and tail; superiorly light reddish brown, or reddish
brown tinted with hair-brown ; sides and under parts wine-yellow, the former
tinged with oil-green ; the lateral fold of skin, towards the head, the side
of the body directly above that portion of the fold, together with the upper
lip, pale lemon-yellow, barred with vertical, short, deep, reddish brown
stripes. F orm, &c:-^-Head quadrangular, and tapered towards the nose, which is
narrow and rounded; sides of the head perpendicular. Body and tail
slender, almost cylindrical, the whole of the former and the basal third of
the latter nearly of equal thickness ; the other two-thirds of the tail tapered
to the point, which is slender and acute. Along each side of the body
a lateral fold of skin, the free edge directed upwards; it commences at the
hinder extremity of the lower jaw, and terminates at the base of the posterior
rudimentary extremity. Rostral plate triangular, its apex between the
nasal plates; the latter plates are narrow and placed transversely, the outer
extremity widest, the inner extremity subacute, and in contact with its
fellow of the opposite side. Naso-rostral plate large, five-sided, the hinder
side notched to lodge the apex of the frontal plate; fronto-nasa! plates
wanting. Frontal plate rather large, six-sided, before and behind pointed ;
palpebral plates three on each side, the middle one largest; parietal plates
large, anteriorly irregularly rounded, posteriorly truncated; interparietal plate
narrow, sub-rhomboidal; frenal plates rather large, subquadrangular, narrowest