Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2Grey, George
History
Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2
Grey, George
Natural history -- Australia -- Western Australia; Western Australia -- Discovery and exploration
59. Grammatophora cristata. Nape with a crest of distinct, rather short,
curved, compressed, spinose scales; back and tail with a series of
compressed keeled scales, forming a slight keel; occiput with separate
short strong conical spines: sides of the neck and back with folds
crowned with series of short compressed scales; base of the tail with
some scattered larger scales. In spirits, dull olive; crown black with
large white spots, beneath black; middle of the belly, and undersides of
the base of the tail white; tail with black rings at the end; feet
whitish.
Inhabits Western Australia. Mr. J. Gould.
The underside is coloured somewhat like G. maculatus (G. gaimardii,
Dumeril and Bibron) but the sides of the head near the ears are spinose,
and the nape is distinctly crested.
But as Dumeril and Bibron's species is only described from a single
specimen which is in a bad state, and has lost its epidermis, and as the
description itself, though long, refers chiefly to parts which do not
differ in the species of the genus, this species may prove not to be
different from it.
These authors, in giving the character of Grammatophora gaimardii and G.
decresii, appears to place great reliance on the one having tubular and
the other non-tubular femoral pores, which is a fact entirely dependent
on the state in which the animal might be at the time when it was put
into the spirits, as I have verified by comparing numerous specimens of
different reptiles furnished with these pores.
But in this genus the size of the pores is apparently of less importance
than in many others, for they appear to be quite invisible in some states
of the animal: thus out of many specimens of G. muricata brought by Mr.
Gould from Van Diemen's Land and Western Australia, eight specimens have
no visible pores; these specimens differ from the others in being of a
rather paler colour beneath. This state of the pores may entirely depend
on the manner in which they were preserved, for all these specimens had a
slit made into their abdomen to admit the spirits; while in all the
specimens in which this care had not been taken the pores are distinctly
seen, sometimes moderately sized, and at others tubularly produced.
60. MOLOCH, Gray.
Body depressed, covered with irregular, unequal, small, granular plates,
each furnished with a more or less prominent central spine, and with a
series of large, conical, convex, acute spines; head and limbs covered
with similar scales and spines; head small, with very large spines over
each of the eyebrows; tail with irregular rings of large acute spines;
femoral and subanal pores none; teeth small, subequal; toes 5.5, short,
covered above and below with keeled scales; claws long, acute.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account