72 Strecker — Reptiles and Batrachians of Texas. 



or six inches. The breeding season extends from May to August. Breed- 

 ing females are brilliantly colored, the whole underparts being suffused 

 with bright crimson. The nuptial colors in the male are sulphur yellow. 



Holbrookia maculata lacerata Cope. 



BOLL'S SPOTTED LIZARD. 

 Between China Springs and Crawford this lizard is rather common. In 

 1894 three specimens were collected on the Brazos River, near the mouth 

 of the Bosque, but since that time no others have been found there. A 

 female collected at China Springs in May deposited six eggs in the loose 

 earth in the box it was confined in. These eggs are similar to those of 

 H. texana, but are much smaller. The nuptial colors in this species are 

 very brilliant. 



Sceloporus spinosus Wiegmann. 



TEXAS SCALY LIZARD; TREE SWIFT. 

 This large tree lizard is abundant along the wooded banks of rivers and 

 streams. The adults bask on the trunks of rough-barked trees, at the 

 slightest alarm ascending to the higher branches. In the fall young speci- 

 mens are usually to be found around old logs and at the bases of rotten 

 stumps. The eggs of this species range from four to eight in number, and 

 are deposited under the bark or in crevices of fallen trees. Young speci- 

 mens are very light in color but display the distinctive pattern of the adult 

 at a very tender age. One afternoon in May, 1000, I shot forty adult 

 specimens in one small grove near Waco Creek. 



Sceloporus consobrinus Baird and Girard. 



WESTERN FENCE LIZARD. 



This lizard is quite rare. I have collected three specimens in the Bosque 

 hills, in the northern part of the county. I was told that it also occurred 

 in the eastern section, but specimens collected there prove to be young 

 examples of spinosus. 



Phrynosoma cornutum Harlan. 



TEXAS HORNED "TOAD." 

 Common along roadsides and in grassy flats and fields. These little 

 horned lizards feed principally on red ants, and some of the specimens I 

 have dissected were fairly gorged with these pests. The usual number of 

 eggs deposited by this species is twenty-four. ( )n the 10th of July, 1906, 

 Mr. Whipple, the engineer at the University, discovered a female Phryno- 

 soma preparing her nest in the hard earth at the rearof the engine house. 

 He notified me of his find and the next morning we provided ourselves 

 with a spade and pair of heavy shears and went out to collect tin' set. The 

 hole had been excavated to a depth of seven inches. The eg.LCs formed a 

 compact mass about l"o inches across and an inch in depth and there was 

 just enough dirt between to keep them from being in contact with each 

 other. Another nest discovered at ( iurley, Falls County, in the month of 

 April, 1007, was quite different. The eggs were merely deposited in a 

 small hollow, under cover of an old railroad tie, and had little or no dirt 



