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Nid ali child ce Perth rrr tre OTRYOTTevrw Wei AA ie? } | y¥ wer he WU eb Wess eS fd wey PP hdd fey vod gttvuy *¥3 iene Vdd, 4s de ve Jedd /# dive age WF ‘ peeeett a aan 3 Poe TIL vee he Www “oy YY yy. TRA RAAIT IAAL | | | ae he Le tea ogee! : Sawa! RMT HE iia dy J MIA by eM ewes yo : Wey Yuen wernt " Wein acaritrgyet We eee ‘dvd Re www Se s Say coe ibd. dd nob ly wpe Vv ugy wvitytivweY Ny | reyyyOyooor aed ope deveue’ A i tay ywiidlly Viuey j sf : Hix j ORI ETE A tg DASA By eee wir a 7 2 7 so a on Petia). a oh ..\ THE ANNALS a Poe ee ‘ AND MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY, INCLUDING ZOOLOGY, BOTANY, ann GEOLOGY. (BEING A CONTINUATION OF THE ‘ANNALS’ COMBINED WITH LOUDON AND CHARLESWORTI’S ‘ MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY,’ ) CONDUCTED BY ALBERT C. L. G. GUNTHER, M.A., M.D., Ph.D., F.B.S., WILLIAM CARRUTHERS, Ph.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., AND WILLIAM FRANCIS, F.L.S. VOL. XX.—SEVENTH SERIES. —_—~ ~ J a ig ts / i > \ AAZVOS Ww wonal Museu ———— LONDON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, SOLD BY SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO., LD. ; BAILLIERE, PARIS: HODGES, FIGGIS, AND CO,, DUBLIN : AND ASHER, BERLIN. 1907, As “Omines res creatz sunt divine sapientiz et potentiz testes, divitie felicitatis humane :—ex harum usu onitas Creatoris; ex pulchritudine sapientia Domini; ex ceconomiaé in conservatione, proportione, renovatione, potentia majestatis elucet. Earum itaque indagatio ab hominibus sibi relictis semper eestimata ; a veré eruditis et sapientibus semper exculta; malé doctis et barbaris semper inimica fuit.”—Linnzvs. “Quel que soit le principe de la vie animale, il ne faut qu’ouvrir les yeux pour voir qu’elle est le chef-d’ceuvre de la Toute-puissance, et le but auquel se rappor- tent toutes ses opérations.”—Bruckner, Théorie du Systéme Animal, Leyden, 1767. Diiiiels & bel ele) see heisyivan powers Obey our summons; from their deepest dells The Dryads come, and throw their garlands wild And odorous branches at our feet; the Nymphs That press with nimble step the mountain-thyme And purple heath-flower come not empty-handed, But scatter round ten thousand forms minute Of velvet moss or lichen, torn from rock Or rifted oak or cavern deep: the Naiads too Quit their loved native stream, from whose smooth face They crop the lily, and each sedge and rush That drinks the rippling tide: the frozen poles, Where peril waits the bold adventurer’s tread, The burning sands of Borneo and Cayenne, All, all to us unlock their secret stores And pay their cheerful tribute. J. Taytor, Norwich, 1818. CONTENTS: OF VOL. XX. [SEVENTH SERIES. } NUMBER CXV. I. New African Saturnide. By the Hon. L. W. Roruscuitp, LE] D eh ee 0c 0 thn yooh NIN Care earta aaa eae yaaa Se errr II. A Contribution to the Knowledge of the Hymenoptera of the Oriental Zoological Region. By P. CAMERON .............+.--- Ill. On Three new Mammals from South Africa. By R. C. WVROUGEBLONG Sopot aes sata ccuercccin ted he ee os ttn Ratio cee hea ohare IV. Descriptions of new Species of African Spiders and Solifuge. EK vge Nem Sea EATER STM tener eyare Max «iss sen MPA apoio ohaas ed elas Mel Mist aka otal anon V. Remarks on Prof. L. von Méhely’s Paper “Zur Losung der ‘ Muralis-Frage.’” By G. A. BouLenesr, F.R.S............... VI. Description of a new Engystomatid Frog of the Genus Breviceps from Namaqualand. By G. A. BouLencer, F.R.S. PETa Coe US) bers carved ch cate Sect era arc nl y Oldocbeievha tea alge d dette conic VII. Descriptions of a new Toad and a new Amphisbeenid from Mashonaland. By G. A. BouLencER, F.R.S. (Plate ILI.) ...... VIII. Description of a new Cichlid Fish from Portuguese East Perce. Dye Cr AL DOULENGER, ES. adcectaclace ss oe sere: IX. Descriptions of Three new Freshwater Fishes discovered by Mr. G. L. Batesin South Cameroon. By G. A. BouLENGER, F.R.S. X. The Atractylis coccinea of T.S. Wright. By E.S. Russet, WVU Ate peyeags u8 Sa sina en et age AAT PAR ON ae: ah V PA ed are XI. On the Generic Position of Benson’s Helix hyba and the Similarity of its Anatomy to that of Khastella vidua, W. T. Blanford. By Lt.-Colonel H. H. Gopwin-AuvstEn, F.R.S. &. ............ XII. Descriptions and Records of Bees—XV. By T. D. A. CockKuRELE. University, of Coloradoy . 0 ft dau. ons vce ceo anes XII. Notes on the Habits and External Characters of the Solenodon of San Domingo (Solenodon paradoxus), By A. Hyatr VSR Eee CCE LEbOM NV -)) Sth. s.45 0 5-tcpih ale wi, eee tind ade ocle Ses XIV. On Three new Mammals from British New Guinea. By OLDFIELD THOMAS........ Roch bc t €cge both cx PROOTaor PAuOtEL XV. New and little-known Eastern Moths. By Colonel C. SIEMPRE NENG dbs yey OC Cararaial sve sh ohsisfeliets Satna Saks eres cata dens s + ¢ New Book :—Books and Portraits illustrating the History of Plant OJ SEENRET ING Ce BGG n CODOBO URE OMe Obbt Coct noc nonneraort Pages 5 iv CONTENTS. NUMBER CXVI. XVI. A Contribution to the Knowledge of the Hymenoptera of the Oriental Zoological Region. By P. CAMERON ...........04. XVII. On a new Leptolepid Fish from the Weald Clay of South- water, Sussex. By A. SmirH Woopwarp, LL.D., F.R.S. (Plate I.) XVIII. On new Species of Histeride and Notices of others. By CRATES; AU P.c. saline. The following are descriptions of the new subspecies :— Pedetes cafer orangie, subsp. n. Size and general characters as in true P. cafer. General colour above “ wood-brown.” Hairs on the shoulders and back pale slate-coloured at their bases, then ‘ pinkish buff” with black tips ; a small proportion of wholly black hairs sparsely scattered among the others. (In all three forms the slaty bases, black tips, and scattered black hairs disappear on the lower back, rump, and tail.) Colour below pure white, the hairs white to their bases. Tail above coloured like the rump, below pure white (except a discoloured area near the base) ; tip for about 100 mm. black above and below. Skull-characters as in true P. cafer. Dimensions of type :— Head and body 400 mm. ; tail 410; hind foot 130; ear 75. Skull: upper length 89; basilar length 62; zygomatic breadth 57. On new African Spiders and Solifuge. 33 Type. Adult female. B.M. no. 7. 5.25.11. Original number 24. Collected by Mr. C. W. Turner on 27th Feb- ruary, 1906. Hab. Aberfeldy Dist., O.R.C. Other specimens from Ladybrand and Vredefort show that this form extends all over the Orange River Colony, and even to Bechuanaland. Pedetes cafer saline, subsp. n. Size and general characters as in true P. cafer. General colour above as in P. cafer, though slightly paler, much redder than in P. c. orangie; the ground-colour of the hairs ‘‘ vinaceous cinnamon” rather than “ pinkish buff,” and the proportion of black greater. The underside quite as in P. c. orangie. Skull-characters as in true P. cafer. Dimensions of type :— Head and body 398 mm.; tail 464; hind foot 144; ear 70. Skull: upper length 90; basilar length 63; zygomatic breadth 57. Type. Adult female. B.M. no. 6. 4.3.86. Original number 1345. Collected by Mr. C. H. B. Grant on 30th December, 1905, and presented to the Museum by Mr. C. D. Rudd. Hab. Woodbush, Zoutpansberg Dist., N.W. Transvaal. T'wo other specimens taken at the same time and place do not materially differ from the type. 1V.— Descriptions of new Species of African Spiders and Solifuge. By A. S. Hirst. Pterinochilus Hindet, sp. n. 3 —Cephalothorax equal in length to patella, tibia, and tarsus of maxillipalp and considerably shorter than patella and tibia of fourth leg. Ocular tubercle considerably longer than broad, the clypeus narrow. Legs. 4,1, 2, 3. Metatarsus of first leg sinuate, with the distal end slightly thickened, and leaving but little space between metatarsus and spur of tibia when closed on tibia ; tibia of first leg more slender than femur. Patella and tibia Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 7. Vol. xx. a 34 Mr. A. S. Hirst on new of first leg longer than the corresponding segments of the fourth. Palpal organ resembling closely that of P. murinus, the terminal portion of the style very long and slender (fig. 1). Fig. 1. \ \\ t \ Y BY \\ \ AN ‘ } 4 AHS a if \ Palpal organ of Pterinochilus Hindez. Measurements in mm. Length of cephalothorax 13°5, of patella, tibia, and tarsus of palp 14°75, of first leg 49, of second leg 44°5, of third leg 41, of fourth leg 50, of patella and tibia of first leg 16°5, of patella and tibia of fourth leg 15°25; total length 27. Hab. A single male specimen was collected by Mr. 8. L. Hinde at Fort Hall (4400 feet), British East Africa. Remarks. The male of P. Hindei differs from that of P. murinus, to which it is closely allied, in the much smaller size and in that the cephalothorax equals the patella, tibia, and tarsus of the maxillipalp, whilst in murdnus the cephalo- thorax considerably exceeds the patella, tibia, and tarsus of the palp in length. Pterinochilus murinus, Pocock. Pterinochilus murinus, Pocock, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1897, p. 753, pl. xl. fig. 4; 1898, p. 501. 3 .— Cephalothorax longer than patella, tibia, and tarsus of maxillipalp, and shorter than patella and tibia of fourth leg. Legs. Metatarsus of first leg sinuate and dilated distally, tibia of first leg more slender than femur. Patella and tibia of first leg exceeding patella and tibia of fourth in length. Size. Vhis species 1s much larger than P. fHinde?, African Spiders and Solifuge. 35 Measurements in mm. Length of cephalothorax 19, of patella, tibia, and tarsus of palp 17°25, of patella and tibia of first leg 23, of patella and tibia of fourth leg 20; total length 32. Hab. Mombasa (Capt. Crawshay). Pterinochilus meridionalis, sp. n. &¢ .—Obolour. Cephalothorax greyish black, with lines of yellowish hairs radiating from the fovea; sternum and ventral surface of coxee of legs deep black ; abdomen greyish yellow, the ventral surface marked with a dark patch. Cephalothorax almost equal in length to patella and tibia of fourth leg, much shorter than patella and tibia of first leg, and considerably exceeding patella, tibia, and tarsus of maxillipalp in length. Ocular tubercle longer than wide, clypeus of moderate length. Legs. Metatarsus of first leg moderately stout, curved, thickened apically, of much less length than tibia, and leaving but little space between spur and hbase of metatarsus when closed on tibia. Lalpal organ with the style fairly long and slender (fig. 2). Palpal organ of Pterinochilus meridionalis. Measurements in mm. Length of cephalothorax 14, of patella, tibia, and tarsus of palp 11°75, of tibia of first leg 11, of metatarsus of first leg 9°5, of patella and tibia of first leg 17, of patella and tibia of fourth leg 14°5 ; total length 25. Hab. A single male specimen was collected at Dowa, British Central Africa, by Mr. A. R. Andrew during March 1907. ee BIS 36 Mr. A. S. Hirst on new Fleteroscodra crassipes, sp. 1. 9 —Colour. Legs marked with dark spots, which are distributed much as in H. maculata. Cephalothoraz longer than wide, of much less length than patella and tibia of fourth leg, and exceeding patella and tibia of first leg in length. Sternum a little longer than broad; posterior sigilla situated in the posterior third of the sternum and at but little distance from the lateral margins. Legs. ‘Tibia and patella of first lez much shorter than the corresponding segments of the fourth. Fourth leg long- haired and very stout, the femur being much swollen and the patella and tibia of considerable thickness. Metatarsus of fourth leg a little longer than tibia (fig. 3). Fig. 3. —S = = - SS \ . ZA a BoB Pf) LD" lft” PR —_ LEP eae Ze =S_ on Fourth leg of Heteroscodra crassipes from above. Measurements in mm. Length of cephalothorax 21, of first leg GO, of second leg 57, of third leg 57, of fourth leg 77, of patella and tibia of first leg 20, of patella and tibia of fourth leg 25 ; total length of body 50 ; width of cephalothorax 18°25, of femur of fourth leg 7°75, of tibia of fourth leg 5:5. Hab. An adult female from Efulen, Camaroons, and another from the forest 25 miles inland to the east of Kribi, Camaroons. These specimens were collected by Mr. G. L. Bates. Remarks. This spider differs from H, maculata, the only other species of the genus, in the much greater thickness of the fourth pair of legs and in the great dilatation of their femora. Cladomelea ornata, sp. n. ?.—Colour pale yellow; tarsi and distal portions of metatarsi of legs fuscous, the metatarsi of the legs of the anterior pairs being marked in the middle of their length with an additional dark patch; patelle and tibie of legs African Spiders and Solifuge. 37 with light brown spots; cephalothoracie spines apically darkened. Cephalothorax. Ocular tubercle moderately elevated as compared with that of C. longipes, the three spines of the cephalothorax of fair length and the middle one slightly curved in an anterior direction (fig. 4). Fig. 4. Side view of cephalothorax of Cluwomelea ornata. Abdomen. Dorsal tubercles of abdomen small, almost uniform in size, and distributed much as in C. longipes. The two median tubercles of the second row are replaced, however, by a single tubercle. Additional tubercles are present in the posterior median part of the abdomen, a couple being situated between the row of three tubercles and the lozenge-shaped group of four tubercles and another pair placed posteriorly to the lozenge-shaped group. Legs. Patella and tibia of first leg a little longer than metatarsus and tarsus, and with tibia, metatarsus, and tarsus more slender than is the case in C. longipes. Measurements inmm. Length of first lez 27, of second leg 19°5, of third leg 10, of fourth leg 18°5, of posterior cephalothoracic spine 2°75, of ocular tubercle *5, of cephalo- thorax 4°75, of abdomen 10; total length 14:5; breadth of cephalothorax 4°75, of abdomen 12. Egg-cocoon pale yellow in colour, hemispherical, the surface smooth, the pedicle very short. Hab. Dry foot-hills, South-east Ruwenzori, altitude 3400 feet; a single female specimen was collected by the British Expedition to Ruwenzori in May 1906. Remarks. he more important differences between this new form and C. long/pes are shown below. The characters of the latter species are in part taken from a female specimen from San Salvador, Congo. Ocular tubercle moderately elevated, the three spines of the cephalothorax fairly long; tu- bercles of dorsal surface subequal in size; patella 38 On new African Spiders and Solifuge. and tibia of first leg together a little longer than the metatarsus and tarsus .............0005- C. ornata, sp. n. Ocular tubercle high, the three spines of the cephalo- thorax long; abdomen dorsally with a pair of antero-lateral enlarged tubercles ; patella and tibia of first leg together a little shorter than the metatarsus and tarsus. ...0 0... 0h = acne C. longipes, Cambr. Solpuga Fordi, sp. n. S.—Colour pale yellow; mandible and head-plate pale brown above, abdomen dorsally pale or darkened. Head-plate exceeding tibia or metatarsus and tarsus of maxillipalp by nearly two thirds of its breadth. Mandible with the end curved. Anterior teeth two in number and separated from the succeeding large tooth by two intermediate ones, the first of these being exceedingly BK nay Alfeae: oO. A. Mandible of Solpuga Fordi from the inner side. B. Distal half of flagellum of 8. Fordi from above. C. Side view of terminal portion of flagellum of S, Fordi. minute. Flagellum dorsally provided with a spined projection on angle, situated at the junction of the dark-coloured anterior part with the distal and paler part. Inner side of flagellum furnished with a smooth ridge (sometimes with a few spines towards the distal end) running from the angular point and * Zur Lésung der ‘ Muralis-Frage.’” 39 terminating towards the distal end of the flagellum in a spined projection. Distal part of flagellum dilated and squarely truncate, Flagellum inserted above the interval between the two anterior teeth and extending posteriorly to the middle of the mandible ; basal lamina moderately elevated (fig. 5). Maxillipalp. Tibia, metatarsus, and tarsus of maxillipalp ventrally provided with numerous cylinder-bristles, those of the metatarsus and tarsus unequal in size and more numerous than those of the tibia. Measurements in mm. Length of tibia of maxillipalp 13°75, of metatarsus and tarsus of maxillipalp 12; breadth of cephalothorax 8. (In another specimen tibia 12, metatarsus and tarsus 11, cephalothorax 6:5.) Hab. Two males of this new form were collected by Captain R. Ford in British East Africa (near Lake Baringo ?). Remarks. The specimens are dry and somewhat shrunken, and therefore the total length cannot be given. The colour also is somewhat faded. ‘The species may be readily distin- guished by the peculiar form of the flagellum. V.—Remarks on Prof. L. von Méhely’s Paper “Zur Lisung der ‘ Muralis-Frage.’”” By G. A. BouLENGER, F.R.S. PurRsuING his studies towards the solution of the Lacerta muralis problem, studies which, it is already pertectly clear, will result in a plethora of ill-defined Jordanian species, the distinguished Hungarian zoologist Prof. von Méhely has recently published a short paper * in which he attempts to prove that the derivation of forms must have taken place in a direction the reverse of that postulated by Eimer f and since endorsed by most workers at this difficult group, including myself, and to which Dr. Gadow’s recent investigation of the American lizards of the genus Cnemidophorus t has given further support. The numerous variations in the pattern of markings in LL. muralis fall roughly under five heads—striated, spotted, reticulated, barred, ocellated. It is evident to any one studying large series that these different types of markings are insensibly connected by every possible gradation §. ‘lhe * Ann. Mus. Hung. v. 1907, p. 84, pl. iii. + Arch, f. Naturg. 1881, p. 375, t Proc. Zool. Soc. 1906, i. p. 277. § Eimer has pointed out that the pattern on the posterior part of the body anticipates the evolution of that on the anterior part. This is true 40 Mr. G. A. Boulenger—“ Zur Lisung question is merely to determine which is to be regarded as the most primitive. Ontogeny, in these lizards as well as in their American analogues the Cnemiédophor’, indicates the direction, as it is the general rule for new types of markings to be produced in adult males and to be then transmitted to females and young *, and strong evidence, derived from other features, would be needed to convince us that, as now held by Méhely, “striation is not the phyletic initial form, as believed by Eimer, but the phyletic terminal stage.” His opinion rests, in the first place, on the assumption + that L. saxicola and L. chalybdea represent the most primitive forms of wall-lizards, and he now attempts to strengthen his position by arguments which seem to me based on a miscon- ception of the evolution of cranial characters. In my contribution published in 1905 { I expressed my full agreement with Himer in regarding the striated type of the var. campestris as the most primitive among all the wall-lizards, and I added that “ we are led to regard the var. campestris as the most ancient form from which the others were derived ; and this, I think, is also supported by the structural cha- racters, which differ less from what we may assume to be the more normal or generalized form of Lacerta before adaptation to climbing petrophilous habits had been reached.” A form with massive convex skull, like the var. campestris, would lead through a number of almost insensible gradations, such as actually exist, to the much flattened skull which has been distinguished by Eimer as the platycephalous type in oppo- sition to the pyramidocephalous. I have never been able to draw a satisfactory distinction between the two types, and I do not quite understand how Prof. v. Méhely manages to group his “ species’’ according to this character. In the list he gives I notice that L. tiliguerta is regarded by him as pyramidocephalous. In the paper of mine§ to which he refers I have described the head of the true “ Tiliguerta” from Sardinia as “ rather strongly depressed, the occiput quite flat or even slightly concave”’; it is certainly as a rule more of the markings on the tail. In primitive striated forms, suchas Z, agilis, L. taurica, L. campestris, the tail is frequently more or less striated or “ maculato-striata,’ whilst in extreme reticulated forms, such as LZ. ovy- cephala, L. sardoa, L. nigriventris, it is more or less distinctly barred. Reproduced tails, if bearing any markings, are always longitudinally striped. * This is clearly shown in the vars. campestris and serpa. We cannot imagine the reverse. + Ann. Mus. Hung. ii. 1904, p. 376. { Trans. Zool. Soc. xvii. 1905, p. 388. § L.c. p. 409, pl. xxvili. fig. 7. der ‘ Muralis-Frage.’” 41 platycephalous than that of the typical Z. murals, which falls in the platycephalous group of Méhely. Besides, the works of Eimer and of Bedriaga show, in several instances, that these authors have been unable to correctly appreciate the character to which, in my opinion, they have attached too great importance *, Yet, when we compare extreme forms, such as var. cam- pestris or fiumana, on the one hand, and var. Bedriage + or sardoa on the other, the difference in the two types of heads stands out very strikingly. Weare not much the wiser when the skulls have been prepared, as the characters pointed out by Prof. v. Méhely are, for the most part, correlative of the degree of elongation or depression of the head, which can be appreciated without injuring the specimens. It must be borne in mind that skulls of lizards cannot be extracted as we do in the case of mammals. Preparing the skull means the partial destruction of the specimen, and in a discussion of this kind, dealing mainly with individual variations, annectant examples cannot always be sacrificed. Prof. v. Méhely has eiven us figures of two extreme types of skulls, but I could easily lay out a series that would to such an extent bridge over the differences as to show of how little practical value they are for the definition of species. A discovery of Prof. v. Méhely’s is the incomplete ossification of the supraocular region in the most pronounced platycephalous wall-lizards. But even here he is obliged to make this restriction—that in some, in the var. Bedriage, for instance, the fontanelle in the supraocular bony plates is ‘nicht immer vorhanden”? in adult males. The character is therefore not of so great importance after all. What surprises me most is to find that Prof. v. Méhely is not at all aware of the individual variations which occur in the skulls of the forms which he classifies as “rein platy- cephal” and ‘rein pyramidocephal.” Thus he attaches a * For instance, in the vars. zzgriventris, serpa, and quadrilineata, some specimens have been referred by Bedriaga to the pyramidocephalous group (L. muralis neapolitana, Bedr.) and others of the same race to the platycephalous (LZ. muralis fusca, Bedr.). Eimer regards the Maltese lizard as platycephalous and its Filfola derivative as pyramidocephalous, a distinction which is not borne out by the material at my disposal. Werner has also fallen into the same pit, in describing examples of the same form (Z. muralis htteralis, Werner) under the two groups (vars. lissana and fiumana). I myself do not blush at confessing similar errors, due, perhaps, more to the nature of things than to any want of ‘ Scharf- blick” on my part. + Prof. v. Méhely calls this lizard Z. reticulata, Bedr. But this name is otherwise employed in the genus Lacerta (Z. muralis reticulata, Schreiber, Eimer). 42 Mr. G. A. Boulenger—“ Zur Lisung great importance to the size and position of the true supra- orbital bone, and yet a skull of an adult male of the var. Bedriage which I have prepared for the purpose of verifying his statements has the supraorbital bone entirely concealed under the first osteodermal supraocular and the first supra- ciliary, and this bone is rather smaller than in a male of the var. téliguerta from Cagliari. It is clear to me that Prof. v. Méhely is not familiar with the skull of the true Z. tiliguerta, which, as stated above, he regards as_ pyramido- cephalous. The sketch here given of the bony plates of the supraocular region, care- fully prepared for me by Mr. E. Degen from an adult male from Cagliari, shows that the ossification of that region may in indi- vidual cases be incomplete; and I should add that the nasal apertures may be nearly as large asin L. Bedriage, also that ossifi- cations are altogether absent from the temporal region. I have already pointed out *, and still believe, that the var. tiliguerta constitutes in a certain sense a link between the var. Brueggemanni on the one hand, and the vars. Bedriage and sardoa on the other. Mr. Degen has also found the supraocular region incom- pletely ossified in male specimens of the vars. Lilfordi and Jiumana,. Prof. v. Méhely thinks a study of the cranial characters affords a key to the solution of the Z. muralis problem from the point of view of the phylogeny. He starts from the assumption that the more feeble development of the osteo- dermal plates of the head indicates a lower stage of evolution, and as the ultra-platycephalous forms of wall-lizards belong more to the reticulate type of pattern, whilst the striated lizards (with six light streaks) are pyramidocephalous, he declares ‘so ist es klar, dass die Liingsstreifung nicht die phyletische Ausganesform kennzeichnet, wie Kimer annahm, sondern gerade die phyletische Endstufe anzeigt.” I wish to give here my reasons for differing from this view. In most groups of lower vertebrates, in which we have some indication of orthogenetic derivation of forms, we find that a massive skull degenerates into a more feebly ossified one so far as the “roof”? is concerned. Among Silurid fishes we have a beautiful example in the series Clartas—A llabenchelys Supraocular region of L, tihguerta. * Tc. p. 404. der ‘ Muralis- Frage.’ ” 43 — Clariallabes— Gymnallabes—Channallabes, in which we witness the gradual disappearance of the plates which roof over the sides of the skull, concurrently with the eel-like elongation of the body, the reduction of the caudal fin, and the reduction and ultimate suppression of the paired fins—a most suggestive series, the direction of which is unmistakable. Again, in the Characinid fishes, as pointed out by Sagemehl, the more primitive types, with large toothed maxillary bone, have a massive skull, the fontanelles appearing together with the reduction of the maxillary bone. The same story is told, in a somewhat different way, by Chelonians (Chelydra— Staurotypus, Emys—Cistudo, &c.). In Lizards, also, when we have to deal with an unmistakable orthogenetic series, ithe drift of which is open to no question, as in Chalcides, for instance, the more generalized type has a more convex skull, better protected by osteodermal plates. But there is another point which is of great importance, and which Prof. v. Méhely does not appear to have considered. The Lacerte with massive skulls, from which I would assume the platy- cephalous lizards to have been derived, have teeth on the palate (pterygoid bones). These teeth are nearly constantly present in Lacerta taurica and constantly absent in the forms of L. muralis with supraocular fontanelles mentioned by Prof. v. Méhely. Now, the only cases in which I have found teeth on the palate in L. muralis have been in examples of the pyramidocephalous vars. campestris and serpa*, a fact which, in my opinion, goes a long way to support the view of Eimer as to the general drift of evolution in this group of lizards. Much as I value the careful investigation of neglected points of structure, whether external or osteological, to which Prof. Méhely is devoting himself, I cannot help regretting the too frequent appeals he makes to phylogeny in order to give importance to characters which, from a strictly syste- matic point of view, must be regarded as trivial and had better be omitted from specific diagnoses. I have pointed out on various occasions } that some of the lepidosis characters on * T have looked for these teeth in a large number of examples of the typical form without ever succeeding in finding any. Siebenrock (Sitzb. Akad. Wien, ciii. i. 1894, p. 254) must therefore, in all probability, have had skulls of some other form before him when he wrote that six or seven pterygoid teeth are present in Z. muralis. As his specimens are stated to be from Dalmatia, it is most likely that they belong to one of those pyramidocephalous forms which were grouped by Bedriaga under L. muralis neapolitana. + Proc. Zool. Soc. 1904, ii. p. 333; Nov. Zool. xii. 1905, p. 75; Trans. Zool. Soe. xvii. 1905, p. 351. 44 Mr. G. A. Boulenger— Zur Lésung which he lays stress hopelessly break down when put to the test of large series from more extensive areas than it is the custom for faunists to deal with. An interesting example of the danger of hasty generalizations of this kind has just come under my notice. As I mentioned in describing the typical form of Lacerta muralis*, one of the two specimens (topotypes) from near Vienna, received from my ever-obliging friend Dr. Werner, proved to be highly aberrant in several respects. The parietal shields were abnormally divided by a transverse cleft. On recently enquiring from Dr. Werner as to whether he had other examples from the same locality (Véslau, near Baden, Lower Austria), I was greatly surprised to hear that an examination of his material had satisfied him that this division, instead of being anomalous or accidental, is the rule in Lower Austria. Among his specimens from Médling, Baden, Véslau, Reichenau, and Miesenbach, not one is without at least an indication of it, whilst he cannot find such a thing in any of his other specimens from various parts of Europe. In order to further confirm this observation, Dr. Werner has made excursions to Baden and Véslau, whence he sent me six living examples, all showing a complete or incomplete cleft across the parietal shields. Therefore this anomaly, which very seldom occurs in other parts of the very exten- sive habitat of the wall-lizard, although it is frequent in the viviparous lizard t, appears to have become fixed in a small district near Vienna. E. Martint mentions the case of the inhabitants of a small secluded village in France, nearly all of whom, at the end of the eighteenth century, had an extra digit to both hands and feet; gradually, however, as intercourse with neighbouring communities became frequent, the deformity was wiped out. Some years ago, when reporting his interesting discovery of Lacerta praticola in a valley near Herkulesbad in Transyl- vania §, Prof. v. Méhely pointed out the frequent presence of an accessory shield between the interparietal and the occipital, observed in 48 specimens out of 78; and as it so happened that the unique specimen on which the species was estab- lished by Eversmann offered the same anomaly, which occurs * Trans. Zool. Soc. xvii, 1905, p. 354, pl. xxv. fig. 4. f+ In which it may be transmitted to the offspring, as shown by a female from the dunes near Ostend, which produced four young in captivity (Aug. 4-7), all showing the same anomaly, { Histoire des Monstres, 1880. Quoted from Delage, L’ Hérédité, p. 194. § Math. Naturw, Ber. Ungarn, xii, 1894, p. 255, and Zool. Anz. 1895, p. 474. der ‘ Muralis-Frage.’”’ 45 occasionally in many other species of lizards, he was led to regard it as “ ein ausgesprocheness Merkmal der Art [Z. prati- cola], das mit der Zeit wohl eine vollkommene Bestindigkeit erlangen wird, besonders da drei Schildchen hiufiger bei den Weibchen, zweie aber bei den Minnchen auftreten und bei Lacertiden bekanntermaassen die weiblichen Charactere viel alloemeiner auf die Nachkommenschaft vererbt werden ” *, Now the case of the Z. praticola from the valley near Herkulesbad is analogous with that of the LZ. muralis near Vienna, for in other parts of the habitat of the former species the intercalated shield is only exceptional, as pointed out by Kessler and by Bedriaga {, not being found in any of the fifteen specimens from Caucasia examined by them ; it is absent in the three specimens from Sukum Kaleh, Caucasia, and in six out of the nine from the Comana Forest, Roumania f, preserved in the British Museum. And yet Prof. v. Méhely included this character of the three azygous shields between the parietals among the points which, in his opinion, militate in favour of regarding L. praticola as more nearly related to LL. muralis (“besonders die auch bei L. muralis hiiufige (uerteilung des Interparietale”’) than to LZ. vivipara §. Needless to say, the intercalation of a shield between the interparietal and the occipital (or division of the interparietal) occurs occasionally also in L. vivipara. I have before me specimens presenting such an anomaly from Falmouth, Brussels, T'alomitza Valley and Brosteni, Roumania, and Moscow. It should also be mentioned that a few (two to four) granules may be present between the supraoculars and the supraciliaries in L. vivipara, whilst, on the other hand, these granules may be reduced to three or four in Z. praticola. Great is no doubt the interest attaching to the record of such individual deviations from the normal condition, great is also the danger of introducing them in the diagnosis of species. I seize this opportunity to point out that the genus Apathya, recently proposed by Méuely || for Lacerta cappa- docica, Werner, does not seem separable from Latastia, Bedriaga. Iam indebted to Dr. Werner for a specimen of Latastia cappadocica, and Dr. J. Roux has shown me another (labelled as from Mesopotamia). ‘The structure of the digits * T am not aware of any evidence in support of this statement. ¥ Zool. Anz. 1895, p. 261. t I am here at variance with Kiritezcu, Bull. Soc. Sc. Bucarest, x. 1901, p. 318, but he does not state how many examples he has examined. § A view which has since been abandoned (cf. Ann. Mus. Hung, li, 1904, pp. 875 & 377), || Termész. Késlén., Budapest, Ixxxy. 1907, p. 2 - 46 Ona new Engystomatid Frog from Namaqualand. is similar to that of ZL. longicandata, so is the shape of the posteriorly narrowed frontal shield, with truncate antero- lateral angles, and the coloration, as described and figured by Werner, is highly suggestive of some examples of that species. The three shields behind the nostril (“ postnasals ” of Werner) cannot be regarded as a generic character, especially in view of the well-known variability of these shields in the type species of the genus Lacerta. Nor can generic importance be ascribed to the scaling of the lower eyelid if we bear in mind the modifications which it undergoes within the limits of the genera Lacerta and Hremias. VI.—Deseription of a new Engystomatid Frog of the Genus Breviceps from Namaqualand. By G. A. BouULENGER, HRS: [Plate II.] Breviceps macrops. (P1. II.) Head comparatively larger and body less gibbose than in B, gibbosus and allies, eyes much larger, their diameter 63 to 8 times in the length of head and body; interorbital space narrow, barely half the width of the upper eyelid. Digits shorter and thicker than in the other species of the genus ; first and second fingers equal, twice as long as the fourth, a little shorter than the third, which is not longer than the eye; toes extremely short, increasing in length from the rudimentary first to the fourth, which is not longer than the third finger, the fifth as long as the second; subarticular tubercles very small, very feebly prominent under the fingers, \%