THE HERPETOLOGY OF HISPANIOLA 273 



of dark dorsal stripes; lower surfaces immaculate pale Nile blue 

 lightening to olive-buff on the throat; limbs pale indigo blue like the 

 body; tail turquoise blue fading to heliotrope toward the tip, with the 

 three black lateral lines of the body continued very heavily on its 

 proximal half, the central one being the most pronounced, as on the 

 body. 



Variations. — This species, like Ameiva lineolata lineolata, is quite con- 

 stant in its characters. There are always three large supraoculars, the 

 first one of which is constantly separated from the loreal by the first 

 superciliary. The occipitals are always arranged in a transverse series 

 of five subequal ones, or else the three middle ones are large and the 

 two outermost are much smaller. In a few specimens, one could al- 

 most say that 10 longitudinal ventral rows of plates are present when 

 the outer row is larger than usual, but in most cases there are eight 

 rows and a few enlarged scales which are not equal to more than a 

 fourth or a third the area of the neighboring row. There are 33 to 36 

 transverse rows of ventral scales. The femoral pores may vary from 

 13 to 18 in number. While in nearly all cases there are two enlarged 

 preanal plates preceded by a single one, yet in some cases there are 

 four subequal marginal plates (U.S.N.M. No. 59220, M.C.Z. No. 3614 

 [2 specimens]) and in one case there are three (M.C.Z. No. 3614 [1 

 specimen]). The tail at the fifteenth verticil bears 24 to 32 scales, 

 and the subdigital lamellae number 34 to 42. The brachials and ante- 

 brachials are usually continuous, although very much reduced in the 

 specimens from Grande Cayemite Island (M.C.Z. Nos. 25535 and 

 25536) and actually discontinuous in one of the four type specimens 

 of taeniura from Jeremie (M.C.Z. No. 3614) . Postbrachials are always 

 present, often rather large, but sometimes medium or small in size. 

 The dorsal granules of lizards from the mainland of Hispaniola number 

 36 to 46 in the standard distance from center of eye to tip of snout; in 

 the two specimens from Grande Cayemite Island (M.C.Z. Nos. 25535 

 and 25536) we find 52 and 48 granules, respectively, showing a tend- 

 ency toward differentiation in the isolated region. 



The wide dark lateral stripe is frequently invaded by light spots in 

 old individuals. Sometimes there are no additional stripes above or 

 below the lateral stripe, but the usual coloration is like that of the 

 described specimen. 



Relationships.— The nearest relative to Ameiva taeniura is Ameiva 

 polops of St. Croix. Their similarity is apparent at a casual glance, 

 and the first impression is deepened after careful comparison. Not 

 only is the color pattern essentially the same, but the head and body 

 proportions are also alike, and, were they known to occur together, 

 it would be extremely difficult to separate the two by scalation. The 

 dorsal granules in the type of Ameiva polops (U.S.N.M. No. 30693) 

 are small, like the two Grande Cayemite examples of taeniura already 



