127 



SCINCUS FASCIATUS.— Lm«a?Ms. 



Plate XVIII. 



Characters. Head above bluish-black, marked with six straw-coloured lines, 

 the two superior unite at the occiput; body above bluish-black, with five straw- 

 coloured longitudinal lines; tail rich ultra-marine blue. 



Synontmes. Blue-tailed lizard, Catesby, Carol., vol. ii. p. 67, pi. Ixvii. 

 Lacerta fasciata, Linnseus, Syst. Nat., ed. x., vol. i. p. 209. 

 Lacerta fasciata, Linnseus, Syst. Nat., ed. xii., p. 369. 

 Blue-tailed lizard, Pennant, Arc. ZooL, vol. ii. p. 334. 

 Lacerta fasciata, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. Lin., vol. i. p. 1075. 

 Scincus quinquelineatus, Schneider, Hist. Amph., fas. ii. p. 202, variety. 

 Scincus quinquelineatus, Daudin, Hist. Nat. des. Rept, torn. iv. p. 272, variety i. p. 275. 

 Lacerta fasciata, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. iii. p. 241. 

 Euprepis fasciatus, Wagler, Natiirlich. Syst. der Amphib., p. 162. 

 Plestiodon quinquelineatum, Dumeril et Bibron, Hist. Nat. des Rept., torn. v. p. 707. 

 Scincus quinquelineatus, Harlan, Med. and Phys. Res., p. 13S. 

 Blue-tailed Lizard, Vulgo. 



Description. The head is short, broad behind, with the snout a little pointed 

 and rounded. The vertical plate is hexagonal, broader before, narrow behind. 

 There are five occipital plates; the two anterior are quadrilateral and smaller; 

 and of the three posterior, the central is elongated, narrow and rhomboidal, broad 

 and angled in front, narrow and rounded behind; back of the occipital are large 

 scales, and on the sides temporal plates. There are four large superior orbital 

 plates, of which the two central are largest; there are three small posterior 

 orbital, and four larger anterior orbital plates; while the inferior wall of the orbit 



