THE HERPETOLOGY OF HISPANIOLA 201 



throat covered with scales similar to the ventrals but smaller; sides 

 of neck with numerous folds; a large transverse fold underneath 

 neck and a longitudinal one on each side of the body; upper sm-face 

 of front limbs and femur of hind limbs with slightly imbricated, 

 keeled scales, much larger than the dorsals; on the lower arm about 

 seven to the height of the rostral; on the front of the tibia from the 

 knee halfway to the foot the scales greatly increasing in size, each 

 bearing a long, sharp spine pointed backward, partly surrounded by 

 small, irregularly placed shields bearing a small spine; scales abruptly 

 diminishmg in size on the back of the leg; a single series of 18 femoral 

 pores; inner side of second toe with one comb, of third toe with two 

 combs, the proximal one being much the larger; a tendency to form 

 three combs on the fourth toe; nails long and sharp; tail covered with 

 large obliquely keeled scales in vertica,l rows forming prominent 

 verticils, which on the half of the tail nearest the body become spiny 

 and very much enlarged between the fifth and tenth scales, counting 

 transversely from the caudal crest; about three rows of scales between 

 verticils at their greatest enlargement and five near the caudal crest 

 and beneath the taU where the verticils are less prominent; verticUs 

 becoming less well-marked toward extremity of taU. 



Dimensions: Total length, 756 mm.; tip of snout to vent, 326 

 mm. ; vent to tip of tail, 430 mm. ; tip of snout to ear, 70 mm. ; v/idth of 

 hea,d, 50 mm.; fore limb, 136 mm.; hind limb, 186 mm.; vertical diam- 

 eter of tympanum, 12 mm. 



Coloration: Head and nuchal region light; throat black; forelimbs 

 black above, Hghter underneath; a light patch on shoulder bordered 

 behind with dark extending to base of nuchal crest; on the back a 

 pattern of about nine light bands bordered with dark arising from the 

 dorsal crest; five of these extending obliquely downward on sides; 

 pattern indistinct on sides becoming marked beneath in five or six 

 dark transverse streaks alternating with broader bands of light; 

 sides, back and anterior surface of femur spotted with black; hindlegs 

 and tail light. 



Relationships. — Cyclura ricordii is not closely related to any of the 

 West Indian iguanas having enlarged snout scales. The only known 

 species of Cyclura from the West Indies having fairly small and uniform 

 snout scales is carinaia, and to this species ricordii is apparently 

 related. In coloration, in the spinose verticils of the tail, and in the 

 enlarged spinose scales on the outer surface of the tibia Cyclura ricordii 

 suggests some of the Ctenosaura rather than Cyclura carinata. The 

 presence of large combs on the toes of ricordii definitely relegates it 

 to the genus Cyclura, however. 



226S49— 41 14 



