SCINCUS ERYTHROCEPHALUS. 103 



Geographical Distribution. The range of this animal is from latitude 39° to 

 the Gulf of Mexico in the Atlantic states. 



General Remarks. This species of Scincus was first described by Gilliams. 

 Lawson, in his History of Carolina, speaks of a lizard called the Scorpion, but 

 he does not mention the red head, which is the distinctive character of this; and 

 Pennant, in the supplement to his Arctic Zoology, has only quoted Lawson. 



Temminck and Schlegel* consider this animal identical with the Scincus quin- 

 quelineatus, differing in appearance only from age or sex; and other naturalists 

 consider the Scincus fasciatus and Scincus quinquelineatus as one and the same — 

 when a single glance at its compressed snout and broad head at the occipital 

 region, is enough to distinguish it from all other of our skinks, without considering 

 the wide difference in their geographical distribution. Troost is said to have 

 furnished Temminck and Schlegel with those specimens, the examination of which 

 led them to the above conclusion. Now, though he may have sent them all from 

 Tennessee, he certainly never found them all in that state. The Scincus erythro- 

 cephalus is a southern animal, and was perhaps never seen within two hundred 

 miles of Nashville, the residence of my friend Troost; yet he may have received 

 it from Louisiana or Mississippi, from which states I know he has obtained many 

 reptiles. The Scincus quinquelineatus is also a southern animal, but has a much 

 more extended geographical range, ascending high up the Valley of the Mississippi, 

 though in the Atlantic states I have never heard of its existence north of lat. 35°. 

 And lastly comes the Scincus fasciatus, which reaches from Massachusetts, more 

 than five hundred miles beyond the northern limit of the Scincus quinquelineatus, 

 to the Gulf of Mexico; yet to this moment I have no evidence of its existence 

 west of the Alleghany mountains. That these three species of skinks are not 

 identical, I believe, from having observed them many times in their breeding 

 season, and never are they paired together; indeed, their very habits are different. 

 The Scincus erythrocephalus chooses its residence in deep forests and high places, 

 and is seldom seen on the ground, unless in search of food; while the Scincus 

 fasciatus and Scincus quinquelineatus, though climbing with facility, choose as 



* Siebold, Faun. Japon. Reptilia, by Temminck and Schlegel, p. 99. 



