42 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Proc. 30 Ser. 



In 1885 Fischer^ described under the name Anniella nigra 

 a specimen said to have been collected at San Diego, Cali- 

 fornia. This, he stated, differed from Anniella pulchra in 

 the following characters : 



1. Twenty-eight longitudinal rows of scales. 



2. The three median preanal scales twice as long as those 



preceding. 



3. Tail one-third total length. 



4. Color above black. 



I have elsewhere" stated that the number of scale rows in 

 Anniella pulchra varies from twenty-four to thirty-four. The 

 preanal scales in both the dark and light forms may be small, 

 moderately enlarged, or twice the length of those preceding. 

 The tail of A . pulchra may equal or exceed one-third of the 

 total lencrth of the animal. I have been unable to discover 

 any differences in the squamation of dark and light speci- 

 mens; and since the recognition of A. nigra as distinct from 

 A . pulchra must rest solely upon the difference in pigmenta- 

 tion, one is tempted to inquire whether this is not merely an 

 instance of melanism. Upon this subject I shall have more 

 to say, but I wish first to consider certain peculiarities of 

 squamation which have been held to distinguish another 

 species. 



Anniella texana was described by Mr. Boulenger,'^ in 1887, 

 from a single specimen labeled El Paso, Texas — a locahty so 

 far beyond the limits of the known range of the genus and of 

 other Californian reptiles that it must be regarded with much 

 suspicion until confirmed by the capture of additional speci- 

 mens. The type of A. texana agrees in coloration with 

 Anniella pulclira, but Mr. Boulenger finds it to differ in cer- 

 tain details of squamation. He assigns to it the following 

 characters : 



1. Head less depressed, snout more rounded than in 



A. pule lira. 



2. A horizontal suture from nostril to second labial. 



1 Abh. Nat. Verein Hamburg, v. 9, Hft. i, 1885, p. 9. 



2 Occas. Papers, Cal. Acad. Sci. 5, 1897, pp. 116, 118. 



3 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 5th ser. v. 20, 1887, p. 50. 



