196 BULLETIN 58, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



As the name E. marginatus belongs to the Riu Kiu species, Eumeces 

 lafiscutatus of Hallowell must be taken for that of Japan proper. 

 The t^^pe appears to be lost, but there can be no doubt as to the per- 

 tmency of the name in spite of the fact that Hallowell apparently 

 overlooked the presence of a postnasal. He describes his specimen 

 as having ''a plate above the anterior frenal," which, however, he 

 considers an individual abnormality. The fact is that the plate 

 alluded to is the real anterior frenal, or first loreal, while the scale,he 

 so designates is only the abnormally enlarged postnasal crowding the 

 loreal out of contact with the supralabial. In s])ecimens from the 

 main islands of Japan this state of affairs is not uncommon (14 out 

 of 47 specimens), and in extreme cases it looks at a first glance as if 

 the postnasal were missing. 



Doctor Hallowell does not state the locality in Japan where the 

 type specimen of E. latiscutatus was collected, but the only entry in 

 Dr. W. Stimpson's manuscript catalogue which can have reference to 

 this specimen is his "Sm. — 15. Lizard found on hillsides at Simoda, 

 Japan, May, 1855. Black above, lineate with light blue. Below 

 pale blue." Simoda may therefore be regarded as the type locality. 



One may still occasionally see this species quoted as E. quinque- 

 lineatus, it being asserted upon Schlegel's authority that there is no 

 difference between the Japanese and the North American species. A 

 careful comparison will show that there exist material differences in 

 the number of scale rows, size, and shape of rostral and nasals, size of 

 median dorsal scales, shape of claws, etc., as already pointed out by 

 Hallowell, Peters, and Boulenger. To their statements I may add 

 that the two species can be very readily distinguished by the differ- 

 ences shown in the relative size and shape of the large temporal shields 

 between the parietals and the seventh lal)ial, the North American 

 species having an arrangement very much like that of the Yaeyama 

 species E. hishinouyei as distinguished from E. marginatus, E. latiscu- 

 tatus, and their immediate allies and illustrated on figs. 179, 182, 184. 



Description (figs. l7^J-\80).— Adult male; IT.S.'NM. No. 12715; Yoko- 

 hama; April, 1881; P. L. Jouy, collector. Rostral high, bent over 

 on the snout, the portion visible from above being nearly as largo 

 as the fron to-nasal ; supranasals in contact behind rostral; nostril in 

 the anterior portion of a single nasal, which is higher anteriorly than 

 posteriorly; a small postnasal in contact with supranasal, nasal, first 

 and second labials (on left side with first labial only) and anterior 

 loreal; fronto-nasal broader than long, not in contact with rostral 

 nor with frontal ; ])ref rontals nearly as large as fronto-nasal in contact 

 behind the fronto-nasal, also in contact with both loreals and with 

 upper preocular and anterior supraocular; anterior loreal high and 

 narrow, in contact with second supralabial (on left side also with first) ; 

 posterior loreal pentagonal, nearly as high as wide, in contact with 



