SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT OF THE SPECIES. 131 



Colour (in life) : — Usually ashy gray variously striped with darker and 

 lighter; a series of vertical white Unes frequently present upon the flanks. The 

 colour may change to brown of varying intensity with white or gray vennicu- 

 lations. Lower surfaces white. 



Dimensions: — Total length 198 inm. 



Tip of snout to vent 70 mm. 



Vent to tip of tail 128 mm. 



Width of head 12 mm. 



Fore leg 33 mm. 



Hind leg 58 mm. 



By most authorities this Uzard has been included in Anolis but a careful 

 examination of the cephaUc squamation reveals miny very pecuUar character- 

 istics, while the transverse gular fold in place of the dewlap is in itself a character 

 of full generic value. The genus DeiroptjTc, then, erected by Fitzinger (Syst. 

 Rept., 1843, p. 66) and based upon this species alone, becomes available for 

 use as noted by Stejneger (lac. cit., p. 268). 



No Cuban lizard has more interesting and imusual habits than has this 

 one. WTiile it is not remarkable to find it upon outcrops of Umestone rocks 

 at some distance from water, yet this is not its characteristic habitat. It 

 usually frequents the boulders and tree-trunks along water courses of consid- 

 erable size and when disturbed it springs at once into the water there to dive 

 and swim actively below the surface, and to hide in some nook or cranny until 

 the danger has passed. It can run upon the surface of the water after the 

 manner of many other iguanids, notably BasiUscus, Laemanctus and some 

 species of AnoUs. Its form, resembltag a miniature Caunan as well as its 

 readily taking to water, have given it its common name in part of western Piaar 

 del Rio. 



Deiroptyx vermiculata is not wddely distributed in Cuba. It has a limited 

 range, apparently within the western Pro\ance of Pinar del Rio. Gmidlach 

 observed it only on the banks of the Rio Taco Taco and the Rio Santa Cruz. 

 Pahner and Riley while collecting for the U. S. National Museum in 1900 found 

 it abundant about streams near San Diego de los Banos. The various trips 

 of the senior author made in recent years ^ith Prof. Carlos de la Torre, Mr. 

 W. S. Brooks, Senor V. J. Rodriguez, and others has yielded a number of speci- 

 mens from Mendoza, Guane, the Valley of Luis Lazo, Sumidero, and other 

 localities in the extreme western districts of the Island. 



