174 THE HERPETOLOGY OF CUBA. 



Description: — Young M. C. Z. 10,928. Cuba: (?Monte Verde). Charles 

 Wright. (A cotype from U. S. N. M.) 



Upper head-scales rather large, striated; nasal in contact with the rostral; 

 supraorbitals widely in contact; supraoculars six, the middle two or three strap- 

 hke, separated from the supraorbitals by a row of small scales; parietals in two 

 pairs, the outer pair rather the wider; sides of neck strongly plicate, a distinctly 

 defined area of granular scales behind the ear opening; dorsal crest very low; 

 dorsal scales very slightly mucronate, the keels tending obUquely toward the 

 middorsal line; laterals smaller than dorsals, ventrals about the same as dorsals 

 in size but smooth, rounded and broader than long; adpressed hind limb reach- 

 ing to between eye and nostril; tail slightly compressed; crested like the back. 



Colour (in Ufe) : — Above olive-brown, rich and lustrous, with a burnished 

 sheen or polish, (not iridescent) ; usually a transverse dark brown interscapular 

 and sacral spot; a rich maroon band extends from orbit to groin often edged 

 with whitish and dotted with white in axilla and groin; lower surfaces yellow- 

 ish or greenish white. 



There is a great variation within this species in the arrangement of scales 

 on the fore head and snout. 



The species is confined to the Province of Oriente. Just what are the 

 limitations of its range cannot be described. The senior author did not find it 

 in the Sierra Maestra near Baire and Jiguani but farther east in the mountains 

 of Oriente collected it upon Monte Libano near Guantanamo and it has been 

 taken in most of the highlands as far north as Sagua de Tanamo (Ramsden). 

 Wirt Robinson secured a series in hills near Santiago in 1903 and recently de 

 la Torre and Rodriguez have sent the M. C. Z. a number from the neighbour- 

 hood of Baracoa. It is distinctly a highland species, its place in the lowlands 

 and cane-fields being taken by L. cubensis, although the latter is far more abun- 

 dant in the central and western districts of the Island. 



It is shy and rather wary, rushing off, scutthng away among the leaves with 

 its tail tightly curled above its back after the manner of its congeners. 



