of grove elevated; interparietal plates rhomboidal, the two anterior sides
much the shortest; parietal plates, five sided; palpebral plates, two, with an
irregular scale immediately in front of them, behind they are edged with a
congeries of small scales, partly quadrangular, partly circular ; freno-nasal
very small and quadrangular; freno-ocular much larger, quadrangular, and
widest behind; ante-ocular plates two, the lowermost very small, the uppermost
ovate, and placed obliquely; plates of upper lip nine, no part of it
formed by the suborbital plate; those of lower lip seven, all very narrow; meatus
auditorim externus narrow, vertical, and with three small scales projecting
backwards from its anterior edge. Scales of back and upper parts of sides
small, subquadrangular, carinated, imbricate, and disposed in transverse
rows, each of which present a slight angle at the middle of the back ; scales
of lower parts of sides smooth ; scales, of back and sides of tail carinated,
of under surface plain; preanal scales seven, one forming the centre, and
six surrounding it in the form of a ring. The scales of the lower surface.of
the neck are small, flat, somewhat ovate, and the largest are towards the
breast. Antepectoral fold formed of seven, scales, the middle one the largest;
ventral plates-in transverse rows, .twelve or fourteen in-each, some small
scales between the lastirow and the preanal plates. Scales of fore legs
anteriorly large, subtriangular, and imbricate, externally small, imbricate,-
and keeled; under eyelids closely coated with minute granular - scales.
Femoral pores ten or twelve, not very distinct. When the anterior extremities
are applied along the sides of the neck, the longest toe, reaches- to the
nostril, and when the hinder ones are applied along the sides, the longest
toe reaches to the opening of the ear.
Length from point of nose to anus, 2 inches; length of tail, 3 \ inches.
Inhabits arid Karoo county, and is very common within the boundaries of the Cape Colony,
R e p t ii-ia .— P l a t e X L I I I . F ig . 2.
E. ,superne rubro-auranfcia ; Iineis !longitudmalibus./qvatuor nigro-brunneis, notate; lineis, maculU
circularibus albis signatis; portionc ovale palpebra infcrioris' scmipellucida; scute ventralibus
duodecim in ordine transverse.
Longitudo e nasi apice ad basin caudae 2 unc; caudee 4 unc.
’ CoLOUR^The .head, superiorly, the back, and the. upper parts of the
sides," reddish orange, variegated with four longitudinal liver-brown lines, m
each of which is enclosed, more or less, completely/a. series,or.row of small
white - spots. The. two dorsal lines are: generally : the darkest and best
defined; the lateral ones in some individuals are continuous, but in the
majority consist only of a congeries of irregular spots or dark freckles, which
form a dark mottled line in which the light spots are more or less imbedded.
The two middle lines' commence close to the hinder angle of the eyes, and
terminate a little beyond the base of the tail, the lower arises from the
angle of the mouth, passes across the upper extremity of the meatus auditonus
externus, and terminates at the base of the hinder extremity; below this
dark line is margined with a narrow one of a clear white colour. The head
above is sparingly dotted with liver-brown; the legs superiorly are of the
same colour as the back, and freckled with liver-brown ; the under parts of
the neck, body, extremities, and tail, yellowish white. Tail above;.light
reddish orange, with a few liver-brown dots towards its base disposed in
two rows.
F okm, &c.—Body moderately robust, tail slender and finely tapered to the
point. Head, anteriorly, tapered, the snout slightly obtuse; the plates of
upper surface of head uneven and slightly rugose ; nasal plates small • and
contiguous, naso-rostral plate somewhat rhomboidal or subtriangular ; frontonasal
five-sided, inner sides in contact; frontal plate club-shaped and furrowed
longitudinally along its centre from nearly the base to the apex; frontoparietal
plates five-sided and contiguous; interparietal plate subrhomboidal,
the two anterior sides short, and the greatest width of the plate is towards