THE HERPETOLOGY OF HISPANIOLA 279 



may readily be secured that will show a perfect gradation through 

 all the degrees of variation to which this region is subject. Schmidt '^ 

 believed that he could tell the species apart by noting the frontonasal 

 scale — supposedly chrysolaema always had it truncate or rounded 

 anteriorly, and qffinis had it with an anterior angle. I find, however, 

 that both conditions occur in any series from a single locality. Like- 

 wise, in a number of individuals of both species, I find that the fourth 

 supraocular may be small, medium-sized, or fairly large, the variation 

 being purely individual on the Haitian mainland. In the extensive 

 material from Gonave Island, I did find a tendency in the fourth 

 supraocular to be constantly a little larger than was the case in the 

 mainland chrysolaema. 



Two of the three specimens of Ameiva plei described by Dum^ril 

 and Bibron came from Puerto Rico; the other one came from "St. 

 Domingue" and was collected by Alexandre Ricord. This specimen 

 I believe to be a true chrysolaema, inasmuch as the figure of it by 

 Bocourt shows the small interparietal and the larger adjacent scales. 



Description of a cotype. — U.S.N.M. No. 12140, an adult from 

 near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, collected by A. C. Younglove. Profile of 

 head flat on top, curved at the end of the snout; nostril anterior to the 

 nasal suture; rostral forming a right angle behind; anterior nasals 

 broadly in contact behind the rostral; frontonasal as wide as long, in 

 contact with the large loreal, very broadly angulate in front; prefron- 

 tals broadly in contact; frontal in contact with the two anterior pre- 

 oculars ; three large preoculars, with a fourth one less than one-quarter 

 the size of the third; the anterior preocular not touching the loreal, the 

 third and fourth completely separated from the frontoparietals by 

 granules; six superciliaries on the left, seven on the right side of the 

 head, the two anterior ones in contact with the first supraocular, the 

 remaining superciliaries separated from the other supraoculars by two 

 rows of granules; two frontoparietals, followed by a transverse row of 

 five occipitals, the median one smaller than the two adjoining it, these 

 m turn followed by about three rows of unequal postoccipitals; ear 

 opening large; five upper labials to a point directly beneath the center 

 of the eye, the third and fourth the longest ; six lower labials to the same 

 point, the second and third the longest; the wedge of granular scales 

 on the chin extending for about one-tliird of the distance between 

 the first pair of chin shields, which are partially in contact; chin and 

 throat covered with granular scales, those of the central gular region 

 enlarged, but gradually merging into the small ones; mesoptychium 

 covered with two irregular rows of enlarged scales, bordered by one 

 or two successively smaller rows. Dorsal scales granular, uniform, 

 about 62 in the standard distance from tip of snout to center of eye; 

 laterals similar but smaller. Ventral plates in 12 longitudinal series 



1' Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 44, art. 2, p. 17, 1921. 



