8 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Proc. 30 Ser. 



is a true Batrachoseps; that is to say, the tongue is adherent 

 anteriorly, the digits are normally 4-4, the premaxillary is 

 single, and there is a large parietal fontanelle. 



Diagnosis. — Costal grooves usually seventeen (rarely sixteen or eighteen) ; 

 head much broader than body; color yellowish brown above, white or yellow 

 below. 



Description. — General form elongate, slender; body cylindric or some- 

 what flattened; tail conical, a little longer than head and body; head 

 depressed, rather broad, nearly circular in outline from above; snout rounded 

 or truncate from above, truncate and high in profile; eyes large and rather 

 prominent, separated anteriorly by about the length of the orbital slit; 

 nostrils small, near corners of snout, separated by a little more than their 

 distance from orbits; a very indistinct subnasal groove, not extending to 

 margin of lip; upper jaw overhanging lower; line of lip nearly straight to 

 below eye, then deflected downward; palatine teeth in 2 nearly straight very 

 oblique series which nearly meet on the median line posteriorly and anteriorly 

 do not extend to the internal nares; parasphenoid teeth separated by a 

 narrow space posteriorly but confluent anteriorly, extending nearly to the 

 palatine series; internal nares rather small, in front of the anterior ends of 

 the series of palatine teeth; tongue large, oval, not emarginate, attached 

 along the median line, free laterally and posteriorly; neck not distinct from 

 body, with several vertical and 2 or 3 longitudinal grooves; gular fold well 

 marked, continued forward on side of neck to eye; i or 2 indistinct grooves 

 anterior to gular fold; costal grooves between limbs usually 17, occasionally 

 16 or 18,1 continued nearly to mid-hne on back and belly; limbs short, weak, 

 each with 4 digits; digits with rounded knob-like ends, inner digit short, 

 rudimental, others well-developed, second and fourth nearly equal, third 

 longest, web small or absent; tail more slender than body, with well-marked 

 lateral grooves; a more or less indistinct dorsal longitudinal groove, most 

 distinct on neck and pelvic region; skin smooth with minute pits; adpressed 

 limbs widely separated. 



The color above in alcoholic specimens is yellowish brown (cinnamon to 

 mummy brown) paler on the head and limbs and often becoming fawn-color 

 on the tail. The upper lip and all the lower surfaces are white or dull yellow. 

 Young specimens are much darker than adults, and the lower surfaces often 

 are minutely dotted with brown. 



Length to anus 25 36 49 52 52 56 



Length of tail 20 31 64 56 63 59 



Width of head 3>^ 5 7 6>^ 7 8 



Snout to orbit 223333 



Snout to gular folcl 6 7>^ 10 10 10 io>^ 



Snout to fore limb 7 10 13 13 14 14 



Between limbs 15 22 31 36 33 38 



Fore limb 5 7 9 9 '^Vz 9 



Hind limb 5% 7/^ 9'A 9)4 9% 10 



1 In fifty specimens the costal grooves are 17 in forty, 16 in six, and 18 in four. 



