THE HERPETOLOGY OF HISPANIOLA 



331 



lower labials; scales smooth, without pores, in 17 rows, decreasing to 

 11 at the beginning of the tail; ventrals 166; anal divided; subcaudals 

 170. 



Dimensions: Head and body, 810 mm.; tail, 590 mm. 



Color (in alcohol) : Top of head and body indigo blue, lightening to 

 cerulean, this color appearing very intense where the epidermis has 

 come away. Where the outer covering is still present, the scales are 

 more nearly olive-green. Upper labials, chin, and ventral surface 

 Nile green, this color extending up to the third scale row on the sides, 

 where it merges with the darker blue. The scales of the back and 

 sides are distinctly black-edged. 



Variations. — This species being the least extreme is the most con- 

 stant in scalation of its genus. The only conspicuous variation, as 



Figure 97. — Uromacer catesbyi: a, Top of head; b, side of head; c, chin. U.S.N. M. No. 

 55036, from Samana Peninsula, Dominican Republic. One and one-half natural size. 



might be expected, takes place in the region of the loreal. Some show 

 a rather large loreal about equal in area to the upper postocular; 

 about half of them are medium in development, as in the figured 

 specimen; some others have very small, almost granular loreals, and 

 in one specimen the loreals are absent on both sides of the head. The 

 nasal is semidivided in most cases, although in a few individuals it is 

 wholly divided. 



The figured specimen has a single posterior temporal, instead of 

 two, the usual number. This condition is repeated in two other 

 specimens in the National collection, while another has three posterior 

 temporals. There is not much variation in the ocular plates; in an 

 occasional specimen there are one or three postoculars. The colora- 

 tion is unvarying in nearly all the animals, although two (Nos. 61926 

 and 69435) are almost black above and beneath, while the latter speci- 

 men has black upper labials below the white streak. 



