Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Volume II Part 33

REPTILIA.

BY JOHN EDWARD GRAY, ESQUIRE, M.G.S.

Genus CHLAMYDOSAURUS. Gray.

Capite depresso; membrana tympani aperta.

Gula pennulis plicatis ornata.

Pedibus quatuor.

Digitis quinque, elongatis, simplicibus.

Cauda elongata, subcylindrica.

Animal scaly; the head depressed; the nostrils placed on the side, midway between the eyes and the end of the head; the drum of the ear naked; the front teeth conical, awl-shaped (eight in the upper, and four in the lower jaw); the hinder ones largest; the side or cheek teeth compressed, short, forming a single ridge, gradually longer behind; tongue short, fleshy, with an oval smooth disk at each side of the lower part of its front part; neck rather long, furnished on each side with a large plaited frill, supported above by a crescent-shaped cartilage arising from the upper hinder part of the ear, and, in the middle, by an elongation of the side fork of the bone of the tongue; body compressed; legs rather long, especially the hinder ones; dest.i.tute of femoral pores; feet four, with five toes, the first having two, the second three, the third four, the fourth five, and the little finger and toe three joints; claws compressed, hooked; tail long, nearly round, scaly.

This genus appears to be nearly allied to the Agamae, but differs from them in the peculiar frill that is appended to the neck.

1. Chlamydosaurus kingii (n.s.)

C. corpore luteo, nigro, variegato; squamis carinatis; pennula antice serrata; cauda corpore duplo longiore.

Chlamydosaurus kingii, Gray ma.n.u.scripts.

Icon. Table A. Natural size.

Inhabits Port Nelson, north-west coast of Australia.

The colour yellowish-brown variegated with black: the head depressed, with the sides erect, leaving a blunt ridge on the upper part, in which the eyes are placed: the ridge over the eyes covered with larger scales than those over the head; eyes rather small, with a fleshy ridge above them; eye-lids covered with minute, and surrounded by a delicate serrated ridge of small upright scales: the lips surrounded by a row of oblong, four-sided scales, arranged lengthways, the front scale of the upper lip being the largest: the chin covered with narrow mid-ribbed scales, with a five-sided one in the centre, and several of larger size just over the front of the fork of the lower jaw: nostrils, surrounded by rather a large orbicular scale, situated nearly mid-way between the eye and the end of the upper jaw, the tubes pointing forwards: the side of the face has a very obscure ridge extending from the angle of the mouth to the under part of the ear: neck covered with small scales: frill arising from the hinder part of the head, just over the front of the ears, and attached to the sides of the neck and extending down to the front part of the chest, supported above by a lunate cartilage arising from the hinder dorsal part of the ear, and in the centre by a bone, which extends about half its length: this bone appears to be an elongation of the side fork of the bone of the tongue, but it could not be determined with certainty without injuring the specimen; each frill has four plaits, which converge on the under part of the chin, and fold it up on the side, and a fifth where the two are united in the centre of the lower part of the neck; the front part of its upper edge is elegantly serrated, but the hinder or lower part is quite whole; the outer surface is covered with keeled scales, which are largest towards its centre; the inner surface is quite smooth. The scales of the back are oval, smoothish; those of the lower part of the body and upper part of the legs acutely mid-ribbed, and of the sides and joints of the limbs minute. The tail is twice as long as the body, roundish, covered with acutely mid-ribbed scales, which towards the end form six rows, so as to render it obscurely six-sided; the end is blunt: the toes long, very unequal, varying in joints, as stated in the generic character (which includes also the claw joint) compressed, scaly; the claws hooked, horn-coloured.

Length of the tail: 12 inches.

Length of the body: 5 inches.

Length of the head: 5 1/2 inches.

Breadth of the head over the eyes: 1 inch.

Length of the thigh: 1 9/10 inches.

Length of the foot and sole: 2 2/10 inches.

Length of the outer edge of the frill: 10 inches.

This interesting lizard was found by Mr. Allan Cunningham, who accompanied the expedition as His Majesty's Botanical Collector for Kew Gardens, on the branch of a tree in Careening Bay, at the bottom of Port Nelson. (See volume 1.) It was sent by him to Sir Everard Home, by whom it was deposited in the Museum of the College of Surgeons,* which precluded my examination of its internal structure.

(*Footnote. Upon application to the Board of Curators of the College, I was permitted to have a drawing made of this curious and unique specimen for the Appendix of my work. The plate was engraved by Mr. Curtis, from an exceedingly correct drawing made by my friend, Henry C. Field, Esquire. P.P.K.)

Respecting this remarkable Lizard, Mr. Cunningham's journal contains the following remarks. "I secured a lizard of extraordinary appearance, which had perched itself upon the stem of a small decayed tree. It had a curious crenated membrane like a ruff or tippet round its neck, covering its shoulders, and when expanded, which it was enabled to do by means of transverse slender cartilages, spreads five inches in the form of an open umbrella. I regret that my eagerness to secure so interesting an animal did not admit of sufficient time to allow the lizard to show by its alarm or irritability how far it depended upon, or what use it made of, this extraordinary membrane when its life was threatened. Its head was rather large, and eyes, whilst living, rather prominent; its tongue, although bifid, was short and thick, and appeared to be tubular." Cunningham ma.n.u.scripts.

Captain King informs me, that the colour of the tongue and inside of the mouth was yellow.

2. Uara.n.u.s varius, Merrem.

Lacerta varia, White, Journal of a Voyage to New Holland, 253, t. 38.

Shaw, Nat. Misc. t. 83.

Tupinambis variegatus, Daud. Rept. iij. 76.

Monitor bigarre, Cuv. Reg. Anim. ij. 24.

This species, better known to English Dealers under the name of The Lace Lizard, is peculiar in having the two series of the scales, placed on the upper part of the centre of the tail, raised into a biserrated ridge, and in the outer toe, or rather thumb, of the hinder-foot being long, and reaching to the penultimate distal joint of the first or longest toe; the claws are compressed, sharp.

Genus PHELSUMA. Gray.

Pedes quatuor, digitis fere aequalibus, totis lobatis, muticis; poris femoralibus distinctis.

Caput et truncus supra tesserulis minutis, infra squamis minimis, tecti.

This genus, which appears to be confined to the Isle of France, differs from the rest of the Geckonidae, by the toes being dilated the whole length, and entirely clawless, and covered beneath with transverse scales; by the thumb being very small and indistinct, and by the thighs being furnished with a series of minute pores.

3. Phelsuma ornata (n.s.).

P. supra plumbea macula, fasciaque rufa ornata, subtus albida.

Icon. -- Inhabits Isle of France.

Head depressed, truncated in front, covered with minute ovate scales; the front of the upper part lead-coloured, with a rather broad red band a little before the eyes, and a white crescent-shaped spot on each side immediately behind it, and then some obscure red shades just behind that; the back lead-coloured and blue, with six longitudinal series of irregular-sized red spots; belly whitish; tail rather longer than the body. Body one inch and five-eighths, head half an inch, tail two inches and a half long.

This animal is very interesting, as being the second species of a genus recently established, which only consisted of P. cepedia, the Gecko cepedien of Peron; Cuv. Reg. Anim. 2 46. and 4 t. 5. f. 5.; which has somewhat the manner of colouring, but is very distinct from the Gecko ocellatus of Oppel.

Genus TILIQUA. Gray.

Pedes quatuor pentadactyli, poris femoralibus nullis.

Caput scutatum; dentes in palato nulli.

Truncus regulariter squamosus.

This genus is distinguished from the true Skinks by the want of Palatine teeth, the shorter body, and the holes of the ears being furnished on their front part with a fringe. It differs from the succeeding Genus, Trachysaurus, in the head being covered with distinct flat plates, and the whole of the body with cut hexangular scales; the scales are harder than those of the true Skink, but not so distinctly bony as those of the Trachysaurus.

4. Tiliqua tuberculata. Gray.

Lacerta scincoides. Shaw, Nat. Misc.

Lacerta occidua. var. Shaw, Zool. iij. 289.

Scincus tuberculatus, Merrem. Syst. Amph. 73.

Scincoid, or Skink-formed Lizard, White, Journal 242.

Icon. White, l. c. t. 30. Shaw, N. M. t. 179; Zool. iij. t. 81.

This Lizard, which was first described in the excellent journal of Mr.

White, does not appear to be uncommon on the coast of Australia, as there are several specimens both in the British Museum and in the collection of the Linnean Society, that were probably taken in the neighbourhood of the colony; the specimen before me was caught at Seal Island, in King George the Third's Sound.

The scales of the whole of the body are broad, hexangular, with five or six longitudinal, slightly-raised ridges, which gradually taper, and are lost just before they reach the margin. The legs are short, thick; the toes of the fore-feet are rather short, the outer reaching to the middle of the second, the second and third equal; the fourth reaching to the last joint of the third, and the little one to the second joint of the fourth finger. In the hind foot the first and third toe are nearly equal, and only half as long as the second; the fourth only half as long as the third; and the fifth about half the length of the fourth toe.

Genus TRACHYSAURUS. Gray.

Pedes quatuor pentadactyli.

Caput sub-scutatum, dentes in palato nulli.

Truncus supra sqoamis cra.s.sis elongatis subspinosis, infra hexagonis membranaceis imbricatis, tectus.

Cauda brevis, depressa.

This genus is at once distinguished from the former, and indeed from the whole of the Scincidae, by the large hard scales that cover the back of the body and head; which are formed of distinct triangular long plates, rough on the outside, and covered with a membranaceous skin. The body shields of the head pa.s.s gradually into the dorsal plates. The teeth short, thick, and conical; the palate toothless. The belly and lower surface of the tail are covered with large six-sided scales, like the other genera of the family. The head is rather large, triangular. The legs short, weak; the toes very short, covered only with as many scales as there are joints; the outer and innermost being about half as long as the three central toes, which are nearly of equal length; claws short, conical, channelled beneath. The tail short, depressed.

5. Trachysaurus rugosus (n.s.) T. squamis dorsi rugosis, caudae subspinosis; cauda brevissima.

The body nearly uniform, chestnut brown; the head depressed with the scales convex, and more nearly of an equal size than usual: those round the eyes and mouth large; the three anterior scales on the edge of the lower jaw larger than those which cover the lower surface of the head, body, and tail, which are uniform, distinct, large, and membranaceous: the scales of the back are nearly of equal size with those covering the commencement of the tail; they are furnished with a prominent midrib, and end in a point. The legs very short, compressed, covered with nearly smooth, rather thin, scales. The toes very short; claws rather thick, and short. The tail about half the length of the body.