144 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



toe; tail cylindric, pointed, with transversely widened plates under- 

 neath. (Stejneger.) 



Color. — Above uniform olive brown; a blackish-brown line from nos- 

 tril through eye, widening on tympanic region and extending above the 

 ear-opening backward along sides above fore and hind legs to side of 

 tall as a broad dark-brown band above and below narrowly and indis- 

 tinctly edged with whitish; on the flanks below this edge a paler brown, 

 more indistinct band; underside pale. (Stejneger.) 



Size. — Head and body to vent 48 mm.; from vent to end of tail 78 

 mm. Whole length 126 mm. Hind leg 16 mm. 



Habitat. — On the supposition that the American and 

 Asiatic specimens really are identical, the present species 

 has a very unique distribution. In North America it is 

 known to inhabit the lower Austral life zone east of the 

 Rocky Mountains, and is not found west of the latter at 

 all. In Asia it occurs over a large area in China along 

 the coast from near Ningpo to Canton, in the interior to 

 the province of Szechuen, or to the extreme west end of 

 the province of Yunnan, while northward it extends its 

 range to the neighborhood of Peking. (From Stejneger 's 

 Herpetolog}^ of Japan and Adjacent Territory.) 



In the United States it is found from Florida west to 

 Texas, North Carolina, Southern Indiana, Illinois, Mis- 

 souri and Kansas. The specimen No. 18,012 of the Smith- 

 sonian Collection was caught at Cliff Cave, on the Iron 

 Mountain Railway, eleven and one-half miles south of St. 

 Louis. Missouri localities: St. Louis, Jefferson, Shan- 

 non, Pemiscot, Dunklin, Butler, Oregon, Stone, Jackson, 

 Phelps, and Crawford Counties. So far I have never 

 heard of one being observed north of the Missouri River. 

 The farther south of St. Louis one goes the more abun- 

 dantly it is found. 



Habits. — The Ground Lizard is found under rocks, rot- 

 ten logs, leaves and loose bark of fallen trees. When 

 uncovered they display considerable agility, half run- 

 ning, half wriggling away in a series of rapid, lateral 

 undulations to disappear among dead leaves or to bur- 



