Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1. / With an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During / The Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in the Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. / By Command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative / Of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits to the Islands in the Arafura Sea.

by John Lort Stokes

APPENDIX 3.

DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NEW AUSTRALIAN REPTILES.
BY JOHN EDWARD GRAY, ESQUIRE, F.R.S., ETC.

Fam. SAURIDAE.

SILUBOSAURUS, Gray.

Head subquadrangular, raised in front, head-shields flat, thin, rather rugose. Nasal shields ovate, triangular, rather anterior, with a groove behind the nostril. Rostral shields triangular, erect. Supranasal none; internasal broad; frontonasal large, contiguous; frontal and interparietal small, frontoparietal and parietal moderate; eyebrow shields, 4-4. Temples scaly, no shields between the orbit and labial plates. Eyes rather small, lower lid opatic, covered with scales. Ears oblong, with a large scale in front. Body fusiform, roundish thick; scales of the back, broad, lozenge-shaped, keeled; keels ending in a dagger point; largest on the hinder parts of the throat and belly; transverse, ovate, 6-sided. Limbs four, strong. Toes elongate, compressed, unequal, clawed; tail short, conical, tapering, depressed; with rings of large, broad, lozenge-shaped, dagger-pointed, spinose scales, with a central series of very broad 6-sided smooth scales beneath.

This genus is intermediate between Cyclodus and Egernia, but quite distinct from both. It differs from Tachydosaurus and Cyclodus in having slender elongated toes like Egernia, in the scales being keeled, and in there being no series of large plates beneath the orbit, and it is easily known from Egernia by the tail being depressed and broad, instead of conical and round. Like all the genera above named, it appears to be peculiar to Australia.

The Silubosaure. Silubosaurus stokesii.

REPTILES. PLATE 1.

Olive brown, varied with black and large white spots; shields of the head white, black-edged.

Inhabits Australia.

EGERNIA, Gray.

REPTILES. PLATE 1.
Silubosaurus stokesii.
Day & Haghe, Lithographers to the Queen.

Head quadrangular, rather tapering in front. Head shields convex, rugose. Nasal shields ovate-triangular, rather anterior, approximate; supranasal none; rostral triangular, erect; internasal lozenge-shaped, as long as broad; frontonasal rhombic, lateral, separate; frontal and interparietal moderate, elongate; frontoparietals 2, rather diverging, contiguous in front; parietal moderate, half ovate. Temple shielded. Orbit without any scales between it and the labial shields. Ears oblong, with 4 small scales in front. Body fusiform. Scales of the back, sides, and upper part of the limbs broad, 6-sided, with a large central keel ending in a spine, larger on the loins, those of the nape 3- or 5-grooved, of the throat and belly thin, broad, ovate, 6-sided. Legs 4, strong. Toes elongate, compressed, unequal, clawed. Tail as long as the body, round, tapering, with 6 series of broad 6-sided, keeled, strongly-spined scales, with a series of broad 6-sided smooth scales.

Cunningham's Egernia. Egernia cunninghami.

Tiliqua cunninghami. Gray, Proceedings of the Zoological Society 1832 to 1840.

REPTILES. PLATE 2.

Olive, white spotted head, brown chin, and beneath white; ears with 3 or 4 pointed scales in front.

Inhabits Australia.

Fam. AGAMIDAE.

CHELOSANIA, Gray.

REPTILES. PLATE 2.
Egernia cunninghami.
Day & Haghe, Lithographers to the Queen.

Head large, covered with small rather unequal not imbricate scales. sides of the face rounded, without any large scales upon the edge of the eyebrows. Parotids swollen, unarmed. Nostrils lateral, medial. Throat lax, with a slight cross fold behind. The sides of the neck unarmed. Nape and back with a crest of low angular distant scales. Body compressed, with rings of rather small rhombic keeled rough uniform scales placed in cross rings; of the belly rather larger, obliquely keeled; of the limbs larger. Tail elongated, tapering, rather compressed, with keeled scales, those of the under sides rather truncated, the keel of the scales of the end forming ridges, the upper surface slightly keeled, subdentated. Toes 5-5, moderate, unequal. Femoral and preanal pores none.

The Chelosania. Chelosania brunnea.

Pale brown, rather paler beneath.

Inhabits West Australia.

GINDALIA, Gray.

Head moderate, subquadrangular, covered with regular keeled scales, of the occiput rather smaller. Face-ridge rather angular, edged with small scales. Parotids rather swollen, with a ridge of rather larger conical scales over the ears above. Nostrils lateral, medial. Throat rather lax, with a cross fold behind. Nape and back rounded, not crested. Scales of the back equal, rhombic, keeled, placed in longitudinal series; on the sides smaller, but with the keels forming rather ascending ridges; of the belly similar, in longitudinal series, with the keels sharp and rather produced at the tip. The tail round, tapering, with imbricate rhombic seales, with the keels forming longitudinal ridges. Femoral and preanal pores none. Toes 5-5, unequal.

GINDALIA, Gray.

The Gindalia. Gindalia bennettii.

Pale brown, rather paler beneath; the scales of the back small, sharply keeled, forming longitudinal ridges, which converge together just at the base of the tail towards the two upper ridges formed by the keels of the scales of the tail; of the limbs rather larger.

Inhabits North-West coast of Australia.

GRAMMATOPHORA.

The Crested Grammatophore. Grammatophora cristata.

Olive; head black varied, beneath pale; throat, chest and under side of the thighs black; tail black-ringed; scales rather irregular, with a central and two lateral series of compressed keeled scales; nape with a crest of compressed elevated distant scales; sides of the neck with scattered single elongated conical spines; tail tapering, with uniform keeled scales, keeled above, rather dilated at the base, with indistinct cross series of rather larger scales.

Inhabits West Australia.

The Netted Grammatophore. Grammatophora reticulata.

Grammatophora decresii, Gray, Grey's Trav. Austr. 2, not Dum. et Bib.

Black, yellow-spotted and varied, beneath grey, vermiclated with blackish; tail black-ringed; back and nape with a central series of larger keeled scales, with distant cross series of similar scales; sides of the nape and parotids with series of rather larger keeled scales; scales of the back small, subequal; tail tapering, with regular nearly equal keeled scales, and 1 or 2 cross bands of larger scales at the base.

Inhabits West Australia.

The Yellow-spotted Grammatophore. Grammatophora ornata.

Black; the back with a series of large yellow spots, smaller on the sides; the tail and limbs yellow-banded, beneath yellow; the throat black-dotted; chest blackish; nape with a slight scaly crest; ears with a few tubercular scales in front; neck with 3 or 4 groups of short tubercular scales on each side; the scales small, ovate, imbricate, keeled, of the middle of the back rather larger, and with a few rather larger (white) ones scattered on the sides; nostril near the front edge of the orbit.

Inhabits West Australia.

Family HYBRIDAE.

Stokes' Sea Serpent. Hydrus stokesii.

REPTILES. PLATE 3.

Grey; white beneath; scales of the back, broad, ovate, cordate, keeled; of the sides larger, and of the belly largest, all keeled; of the two central series of the belly rather larger, more acute and smooth. Labial shields, 5, 1, 5, high band-like; the 4 and 5 the highest. 1, cheek scale; 1, anterior, and 3, posterior ocular, the lower hinder largest; the hinder labial shields behind the eye small, the hinder one smallest.

Inhabits Australian Seas.

This species is the giant of the genus, being very many times larger than the Hydrus major of Shaw (Pelamis shawi, Messem.) from the coast of India. The body is as thick as a man's thigh, and it must have been a most powerful and dangerous enemy to any person in the water.

GONIONOTUS, Gray.

REPTILES. PLATE 3.
Hydrus stokesii.
Day & Haghe, Lithographers to the Queen.

Head ovate, depressed, covered with small rather acute scales, with 2 small frontal plates just over the rostral in front; rostral small, triangular, concave in the centre. Nostrils large, rather anterior, in the middle of a rather large plate, with a slight slit to the hinder edge; labial scales rather larger; the lower ones with a concavity in the middle of each scale. Eyes convex, rather large, pupil oblong; throat with small acute scales. Body elongate, compressed, subpentangular; back covered with very small semicircular scales, with a row of larger ovate keeled scales on each side, and 2 or 3 rows of similar larger keeled scales over the vertebral line; the sides covered with moderate ovate keeled scales, rather larger beneath the belly, covered with a series of transverse rounded plates. Tail elongate, rather compressed, subpentangular, tapering, like the back above, and with a single series of rounded transverse plates beneath.

Gonionotus plumbeus.

REPTILES. PLATE 4.

Bluish-grey, belly and beneath white. Length of body 9, of tail 4, total 13 inches.

Inhabits --

This animal is at once known from all the other Homalopsina, by the three keels on the back, by having only a single series of plates beneath, and in the lower labial shields being pitted.

Family CROCODILIDAE.

The MUGGAR or GOA.

Crocodilus palustris, Lesson Belanger, Vog. 305. Gray Cat. Reptiles British Museum 62. Crocodilus vulgaris, Dum. and Bibr. Erp. Gen. n. 108. Crocodilus biporcatus, Cuv. Oss. Foss. tome 5 plate 1, figure 4. Skull. Crocodilus biporcatus raninus, Muller.

Inhabits Victoria River.

Captain Stokes has furnished me with the following note on this species.

"Length in feet inches: of Alligator: 15 0. From base of head to extremity of nose: 2 2. Across the base of head: 2 0. Iength of lower jaw: 2 0.

Teeth in both jaws vary in size, and are variously disposed, as will be seen in the sketch.

In upper jaw on each side of maxillary bone: 18 2 incisors.

In lower jaw on each side of maxillary bone: 15 2 incisors.

REPTILES. PLATE 4.
Gonionotus plumbeus.
W. Wing Litho. C. Hullmandel's Patent.

The largest teeth are 1 1/2 inch in length. The two lower incisors are stronger and longer than the upper, and project through two holes in front part of upper jaw. Breadth across the animal from extreme of one fore foot, across the shoulders, to the other side, 5 feet 2 inches. The fore feet have each five perfect toes, the three inner or first, have long horny nails, slightly curved, the two outer toes have no nails, nor are they webbed. The third and fourth toes are deeply webbed, allowing a wide space between them, which is apparent, even in their passive state. The hind feet are twice the size and breadth of the fore, with four long toes, the two first are webbed as far as the first joint, and the other are strongly webbed to the apex of last joint; the last or outer toe has no nail. From the apex of tail, a central highly notched ridge runs up about midway of it, and there splitting into two branches, passes up on each side of the spine over the back, as far up as the shoulders, gradually diminishing in height to the termination. A central ridge runs down from the nape of the neck, over the spinous processes of the vertebrae (being firmly attached to them by strong ligaments) as far down as the sacrum, diminishing to its termination likewise."

The eggs are oblong, 3 inches and 3 lines long, and 2 inches 8 lines in diameter.

The skull of this specimen, which was presented to the British Museum by Captain Stokes, has exactly the same form and proportions as that of the crocodiles called Goa and Muggar on the Indian continent, and is quite distinct in the characters from the Egyptian species.

A number of large stones, about the size (the largest) of a man's fist, were found in the stomach.

Messrs. Dumeril and Bibron deny that any species of crocodile is found in Australia. See Erpet. Gen. 1 1836, 45.

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