Language: English
Baily (1953) has studied frequency distribution of variations in different characters on the snakes of the genus Chironius in South-eastern South America; DeSilva (1969) studied the range of individual scale variations and sexual dimorphism in the snakes of Ceylon; Hass & Werner (1969) have studied the variations in scale counts of the lizards Ophisops elegans, Eremias glittulata and Eremias brevisrostris from South-Western Asia; Loveridge (1958) has studied scale counts and sexual dimorphism in African snakes, Peters (1956) has analysed the sexual variations in scalation of the South American snake Dipsas catesbyi.
In the present paper the meristic variations in various characters in series of examples of 43 species have been summarised in a tabular form and the frequency percentages of their scale and certain other characters have been studied.
The work is based on detailed studies on the reptile material available in the Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta from the various localities of Peninsular India viz. Andrra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mysore & Tamil Nadu.