26 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



Unfortunately no eggs of this lizard were secured during the course of the 

 present work. A female collected June 7, 1931, contained eggs which were 

 nearly ready to be laid (to judge by their size) . Another female collected in 

 southern Ohio in the spring of 1933 escaped from captivity and took up its 

 abode in the garden of its owner who lived in Toledo. It was allowed to 

 remain at liberty and apparently deposited eggs, for 5 specimens, 2i/g inches 

 in length, and which had obviously just hatched, were discovered in a large 

 crack in the side-walk on August 31, 1933. Ditmars (1936, 57) states that 

 the eggs are from % to I/2 inch in length, are oval and are covered with a thin 

 papery shell. He gives the incubation period as from six to eight weeks. 



Leiolopisma unicolor (Harlan) 



Brown-Backed Skink 



Description. — A small lizard which occasionally may reach a length 

 of 5 or 514 inches. The only specimen extant from Ohio measures 2% 

 inches, but a portion of its tail is lacking. Head small and scarcely distinct 

 from neck; eye small. Legs small; five toes on each foot; the adpressed limbs 

 lack considerably of meeting. Body slender. Scales around middle of body 

 26*; the scales smooth. Upper labials 7, lower labials 6. Lower eyelid with 

 a transparent disc. 



The ground color of the dorsum is yellowish to golden brown and is 

 usually marked with two or more irregular longitudinal rows of small dark 

 streaks. A dark line, 1^2 to 2 scales wide, extends backward from the nostril 

 through the eye, runs the length of the body and fades on the distal portion 

 of the tail. Below this dark line the sides are flecked or streaked with black 

 or dark brown on a ground of grey. The under surface is uniform yellowish 

 or whitish. The limbs are dark above and light below. 



This species bears a striking resemblance in pattern to the two-lined sala- 

 mander (Eurycea bislineata bislineata) which is common in southern and 

 eastern Ohio. 



Range. — New Jersey to Florida and west to the Great Plains in Kansas, 

 Oklahoma and Texas. 



The brown-backed skink has been taken in only one place in Ohio, viz., 

 Hocking County: Salt Creek Twp. (OSM 435). In this locality, and 

 under the circumstances in which it was taken, it is felt that the chances of its 

 having been accidentally introduced are slight. Stupka (1933, 43) found the 

 specimen October 2, 1932, as he was notching a chestnut tree preparatory to 

 cutting it down; the lizard ran down the tree following one of the furrows 

 in the bark. 



The locality is among the wildest in Ohio. It is well wooded and hilly, 

 farms are far apart and it is relatively inaccessible to picnic parties and tour- 

 ists. Although the specimen extends the range of the species considerably to 



* Statistics given are from the lone Ohio specimen. The color and pattern descrip- 

 tion is based on a study of specimens from several parts of the range. 



