THE HERPETOLOGY OF HISPANIOLA 145 



blue irregular spots on the nuchal region, set off by the chocolate- 

 brown pigment surrounding them ; down the back there are four or five 

 light-blue rectangular areas more or less completely rimmed by 

 chocolate; the sides are more or less regularly mottled by short blue 

 and chocolate streaks; the limbs are banded by rows of dark spots on a 

 lighter ground ; the breast and belly are immaculate, with a blue and 

 green iridescence ; the throat is heavily vermiculated with brown ; the 

 tail verticils are faintly set off with brown rings. This specimen is 

 much like the type of biauritus described by Meerwarth. 



No shoulder marking of any kind is evident in about 88 percent of 

 the Hispaniolan lizards; about 8 percent have a light blue line, while 

 only 4 percent have a black scapular patch like those on Gonave 

 Island. Those having the black patch are: F.M.N. H. No. 13253, 

 from between St. Marc and Gonaiives; U.S.N.M. No. 80762, from 

 Baraderes; U.S.N.M. No. 59152, from near Cabaret; and two young 

 ones from Jeremie, U.S.N.M. Nos. 59255 and 59256. From this same 

 small collection of eight lizards from Jdremie there are, besides the 

 two just mentioned with the black patch, three others with a trace of 

 a light line, while the remaining three are without shoulder markings. 



A large preoccipital is present in about 82 percent of the specimens. 

 In the remaining 18 percent the preoccipital is broken up into two or 

 more small and quite irregular scales. 8 When the preoccipital is 

 normal it is a large, conspicuous, triangular scale whose base meets the 

 anterior border of the occipital and whose sides may or may not touch 

 the supraorbital semicircles. The occipital touches the semicircles in 

 about 50 percent of the cases; in about 44 percent they fail to meet, 

 while in 6 percent both conditions are found on opposite sides of the 

 head of the same individual. 



The tail is quite finely scaled, there being 8 to 10 lateral rows of 

 scales to a verticil, the last row distinctly elongate; above these there 

 is a serrated crest of usually five unequal scales, the last two of which 

 are the largest. 



The median patch of scales on the snout just in front of the juncture 

 of the supraorbital semicircles contains one to four scales as a rule, 

 with two scales most often found. In less than 2 percent of the cases 

 there is no such patch of scales present, while in only 10 percent of the 

 cases are there more than four scales in this median group. 



Relationships. — In order to understand the relationships of Anolis 

 distichus dominicensis it is first necessary to discuss the affinities of 

 the other forms to which it is comparable. Anolis distichus domini- 

 censis somewhat resembles A. lucius of Cuba, as Reinhardt and Liitken 

 observed, although the likeness is not extreme. The Cuban lizard is 

 slenderer in body and limbs, while its head is much more elongate 



8 This condition was noted in the single female specimen from Constanza (Senckenberg Mus. No. 91) 

 mentioned by Mertens (1938, pp. 335-337.) 



