Drawn from Nature on stone by B. Waterhouse Hawkins.
Printed by C. Hullmandel.
The specimens brought home by Mr. Darwin were from Port Desire, in Patagonia, and the following observations occur in his MS. notes:—“Centre of the back yellowish brown, sometimes with a strong tinge of dark green; sides clouded with blackish brown; in very great numbers under stones; makes a grating noise when taken hold of; after death loses its darker colours.
“A specimen being kept for some days in a tin box, changed colour into an uniform grey, without the black cloudings. I thought I noticed some change after catching and bringing home these animals, but could observe no instantaneous change.”
I have considered these specimens as belonging to the species to which I have assigned them, because they exactly agree with Mons. Bibron’s description. It is, however, very possible that an opportunity of comparing them with those obtained by Gaudichaud, would show them to be distinct, as it rarely happens that the same species of reptile is found on the opposite sides of the American Continent.
Omninò viridis; fronte subconcavo; squamulis capitis planis.
Description.—Head thick, swollen across the posterior part, concave between the eyes, and forwards nearly to the snout, which is rounded. Scales of the head larger towards the fore part, nearly flat. Eyes round, large; ears longitudinally oval. Body covered with small nearly equal scales. Tail round, one-fifth longer than the body. Limbs short, the anterior, when placed against the side, reaching but little more than half way to the thigh; the posterior reaching about two-thirds the distance towards the shoulder. Toes short; on the anterior foot the first is the shortest, then the second, the fifth, and the fourth; on the posterior increasing in the same series; all compressed towards the extremity, and all furnished with small curved close claws.
The colour is a fine green.
It was taken at the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. It lives on trees, and is said to make a laughing noise.
This species greatly resembles Naultinus Elegans[3] of Mr. Gray, of which a beautiful specimen is in the British Museum. Upon a comparison of the two, however, I find that they differ in the following particulars. In the present species the head is concave between the eyes, and forwards nearly to the snout; in the other, this part is quite plain; the scales of the head in this species are flat; in the other they are convex. The colour of this species is uniformly green, whereas N. Elegans has several markings of a yellow colour, each distinctly bordered with black.
3. See Fauna of New Zealand, p. 203. Zool. Misc. p. 72.
Squamis suprà-humeralibus, rhomboideis, imbricatis; subfemoralibus transversim hexagonis; abdominalibus in seriebus decem longitudinalibus dispositis; caudâ, corpore cum capite plus quam duplò longiore, squamis medio carinatis, et ad margine subcarinatis.
Habitat, Bahia Blanca, Northern Patagonia.
Description.—Head very narrow, much elongated and pointed, the vertex flattened; nostrils rather large, open, round, directed laterally, and placed in the centre of the naso-rostral plate; superciliary plates three in number, the central one the largest; suprahumeral scales rhomboidal, imbricated, not broader than long, in four series; those of the arm transversely hexagonal; the anterior surface of the thigh, and the inferior of the leg, covered with large hexagonal, somewhat imbricated, scales; caudal scales above quadrate, longer than broad, with a strong medial carina, and the lateral margins slightly raised; beneath smooth; tail very long. Anterior extremity placed against the body, reaching rather more than half way to the thigh; posterior extremity extending forwards nearly to the ear.
Colour.—The upper surface of this beautiful species is dark brown or blackish, with nine distinct white or yellowish longitudinal fasciæ extending through the whole length of the neck and body; tail with four of these lines. Under parts white.
| DIMENSIONS. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Inches. | Lines. | ||
| Length | of the head | 0 | 6 |
| of the neck | 0 | 3 | |
| of the body | 1 | 4 | |
| of the tail | 5 | 2 | |
| Total length | 7 | 5 | |
| Length | of anterior extremity | 0 | 7 |
| of posterior extremity | 1 | 5 | |