with 6 ova. From the middle of October to January, the season of birth, with only one exception all females examined that were 54.0 mm or more from snout to vent, were gravid. Gestation therefore is about three months, and does not appear to vary appreciably. As another set of follicles begins to enlarge two or three months after parturition and are ready to rupture six months later, each mature female is able to bear young each year. The above data are summarised in Text-fig. 6, where they are shown in relationship to that of the male cycle.

It is usual for the ova in each ovary to pass into the oviduct on the corresponding side. However, one female was collected which had three ova in each oviduct with two corpora lutea in the left ovary and four in the right. Another lizard was found to have three collapsed follicles in each ovary and two ova in the left oviduct and four in the right. In both cases it can be concluded that an ovum had made a transabdominal passage to reach the oviduct. Weekes (1927) records a specimen of Lygosoma (Hinulia) quoyi with a damaged oviduct in which all of the ova from one side passed to the opposite oviduct. The instances described for Leiolopisma zelandica show the transfer from one side to the other of only one of a number of ova released by the ovary concerned. This may indicate that the ova are released into the body cavity to pass into the oviduct rather than that the funnel actively clasps the ovum in the ovary.

Not all of the ova released develop within the oviducts; in three of the eight gravid females collected fewer ova were found within the oviducts than would be expected from the number of collapsed follicles present in the ovaries. Two lizards had one less ovum in each oviduct than the number of corpora lutea in the corresponding ovaries. One large adult female had 4 and 5 corpora lutea in the right and left ovaries respectively, 3 ova in the right oviduct with well developed embryos, and 5 ova in the left oviduct, but only three of these containing embryos. In two of these cases the number of ovulations at 7 and 9 were higher than is usual. No atiesia of ova within the ovaries was seen; apparently all the mature ova are ovulated.

On passing into the oviducts the ova become elongate, 6.5 to 9.5 mm long and 5.0 to 7.5 mm wide, and lie close to one another in the oviduct, which is expanded but forms a continuous chamber rather than a series of pouches. The right oviduct is still longer than the left. In eight gravid females the left oviducts contained a total of 19 ova and the right oviducts 24. Fully formed embryos unpigmented except for the eyes were found in mid-December, with the surrounding yolk approximately equal in mass to the developing embryo. A gravid female killed in mid-January contained five full-term embryos in all respects no different from newly-born young, accompanied by little or no yolk.

Two lizards were found to have retained within the oviducts embryos that had been arrested in their development through some unknown cause. One of these, a female collected on March 14, 1954, and examined after preservation, had within the otherwise empty oviduct a badly preserved mass 6.0 mm long containing an embryo, the whole forming a single pouch-like expansion of the closely investing oviduct. The second lizard, captured on October 19, 1954, had each oviduct distended by three recently ovulated ova. A vesicle on the right oviduct was connected to it by a narrow neck of tissue. The vesicle contained a well formed embryo, flattened into a concave disc and unaccompanied by yolk. The vesicle was pressed by the right oviduct against the dorsal wall of the body cavity. In this position it had not impeded the passage of the recent ova. Both of these embryos were obviously retained from a previous breeding season.

During gestation the inguinal fat bodies lying posteriorly in the body cavity central to the kidneys and oviducts and lateral to the rectum and bladder undergo reduction in size. The fat bodies of females at the beginning of hibernation in April are discrete and leaf-shaped, 7.0 to 13.0 mm long, 4.0 to 6.0 mm wide and 1.0 to 2.0 mm thick, pale yellow, semi-translucent, and of an oily nature due to

the large number of small oil globules they contain. At the end of hibernation the fat bodies are not obviously reduced in size, being still firm, uniform in thickness, well defined in outline, and persisting unchanged until ovulation. In gravid females the fat bodies become diffuse and thin, forming a discontinuous sheet of the usual general outline and dimensions but the oil distributed in small patches or elongate nodules. Female lizards two weeks before, or after, parturition either lacked fat bodies entirely or showed only a trace of fat within the associated connective tissue.

Sixteen specimens of Leiolopisma aeneum (Girard) obtained on various dates from Pukerua Bay, Wellington, show considerable differences in the reproductive pattern from that of L. zelandica. Twelve specimens of L. aeneum contained maturing ova in the ovaries or ova in the oviducts, distributed as follows:

In three other specimens also taken on September 22, ovulation had already taken place. Thus in L. aeneum generally one ovum matures in each ovary, and ovulation occurs at least two weeks earlier than in L. zelandica. L. aeneum is a smaller skink than L. zelandica, inhabiting a few restricted coastal regions and islands adjacent to Wellington. The adults rarely exceed 55.0 mm from snout to vent, as against L. zelandica, which reaches a maximum size in the Wellington district of about 64.0 mm. A female L. aeneum 45.0 mm in snout-vent length

Text-fig. 5.—Records of the testes weight as an average for both testes for 26 specimens of Leiolopisma zelandica and 6 specimens of Leiolopsima aeneum. The black circles indicate that sperm was present in the epididymis of the individual concerned. The small figure alongside each record refers each lizard to its size-group as follows:—1. 21.0–25.9 mm in snout-vent length 2. 26.0–30.9 mm in snout-vent length. 3. 31.0–35.9 mm in snout-vent length. 4. 36.0–40.9 mm in snout-vent length. 5. 41.0–45.9 mm in snout-vent length. 6. 46.0–50.9 mm in snout-vent length. 7. 51.0–55.9 mm in snout-vent length. 8. 56.0–60.9 mm in snout-vent length. 9. 61.0 mm and above in snout-vent length.