258 BULLETIN 17 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Dimensions: Head to posterior border of ear, 7.5 mm.; head and 

 body, 46 mm.; tail (reproduced), 32 mm.; liindleg, 8 mm.; foreleg, 5 

 mm.; axilla to groin, 32 mm.; head width, 5 mm. 



Color (in alcohol): Body color sepia above, light wood brown below. 

 A wide seal-brown lateral stripe beginning behind the eye and con- 

 tinuing backward without interruption to the tip of the tail, separated 

 from its fellow dorsally by nine scale rows; the upper border of this 

 stripe sharply and evenly cut off in a straight line from the dorsal 

 tone; the lower border of the stripe merging and fading very gradually 

 into the ventral hue. A few scattered slightly darker spots on the 

 nuchal region and some lighter ones on the sides of the neck within the 

 limits of the dark stripe. Upper head scales with dark posterior 

 margins. Labials dark, with conspicuous light anterior borders. 

 Sides of the throat with a few longitudinal rows of dark dots; repro- 

 duced portion of taU dusky; remainder of under surface immaculate. 



Variations. — In Sauresia sepsoides the greatest uniformity may be 

 noted in the arrangement of the head shields, unlike Celestus costaius 

 where diversification is almost the rule. The upper labials in front of 

 the infraocular are constantly five in number, whUe the disposition of 

 the other scales around them is surprisingly uniform. There is little 

 tendency toward variation on top of the head except that sometimes 

 the frontal may form a short contact with the first supraocular, thus 

 preventing the touching of the second supraocular by the frontonasal, 

 and sometimes the frontonasal extends to a meeting with the second 

 supraocular. The prefrontals may be slightly better developed in 

 some specimens, while in others they are not distinguishable from the 

 postocular scales except by position. 



In No. 66977 the first and second pairs of chin shields are in contact 

 with the lower labials. This same individual has only two consecutive 

 scales between nasal and preocular, the third apparently having been 

 fused with the preocular, which is quite large. 



In the 27 specimens in the National collection, the number of scales 

 around the body shows a surprising constancy compared to that of the 

 West Indian Celesti. There are 35-37 scales at midbody, with only 

 two occurrences of 37, so that 35 and 36 appear to be the rule. The 

 subdigital lamellae of the longest toe are 9 to 1 1 . There seems to be no 

 variation in color, save that some individuals are more heavily spotted 

 on the neck, with a slight tendency toward the formation of short, 

 longitudinal marks that anastomose and make a sort of dark network 

 pattern, which fades out between the axillae. The uninterrupted 

 dark-brown lateral band with its clearly cut upper edges separated 

 by the nine dorsal rows of sepia scales gives a very uniform appear- 

 ance to the specimens when they are placed side by side. 



