TEIID LIZAKDS OF TIIK GEXUS CNEMIDOrHOKUS 17 



^"i(lll;ll. Ik'Ciiiisi" ol' this. Cope ( 1'.>I)()) wrote tliat " the color iii;irl<iiii's 

 dirt'er in the sanio iiulivichial nt dillVreiit a<>es, and the a<>"e at which 

 the adult coloration is assiiincd dillois in different localities. Some 

 of the species * * * ncxcr abandon the coloi"ition of the young 

 of other species and subspecies.'' j\leek (11)05, }). 15i) elaborated this 

 comment as follows: "Most of the forms of this genus undergo a 

 color metamorphosis. The result is that the species have been unduly 

 multiplied. Professor Cope noted this change in color pattern and 

 regarded it not due to age, because all specimens having the same 

 color pattern were not of equal size. In this connection it must 

 be remembered that cold-blooded animals do not, in general, grow 

 as uniforml}' as warm-blooded ones, so two lizards of the same age 

 may differ greatly in size. The color pattern of a particular stage 

 may develop quite independently of age. About all that we can say 

 in this regard is that one particular pattern appears before another 

 certain one does, and that the earlier pattern is usually associated 

 with the smaller individuals." 



It may be said here that the color pattern of these lizards is so 

 variable that it is not wise to make generalizations regarding it. 

 As shown elsewhere, the influence of the environment upon the color- 

 ation has been great and the color patterns of the more distantly 

 related species may approach each other very closely as do those of 

 certain examples of tessellatus and gulans^ or of dejjpii and leninis- 

 catus^ or even of lemniscatus and sexlineatiis. However, if a young 

 specimen is spotted, it is fairly certain that it will remain so, or be- 

 come unicolor, as it grows older, but if a young specimen is lined, 

 it may or may not pass through an intricate series of pattern stages, 

 including the spotted phase, before reaching old age. The methods 

 of pattern change vary with the species. For instance, in gularis 

 and perplexus of the sexl'meatus group spots appear in the fields of 

 the six to eight lined young, expand, and unite Avith the stripes to 

 destroy their even contour and to produce a tessellated pattern (see 

 fig. 22). In sexlineatiis^ however, spots do not appear and all ex- 

 amples are lined throughout life. In lemiscatus stripes disappear, 

 not by uniting wdth the field spots, but apparently by fading. Here 

 sexual dimor])liism in the loss of stripes seems to be in evidence, the 

 males losing their lines much more completely and at an earlier age 

 (see fig. T). 



In Cnemid ophorus eacli penial lobe (Cope, 1900, p. 557) has a 

 pattern which consists of numerous, delicate, imbricate, transverse 

 lamellae, which are closely applied to each other. Opposite the 

 sulcus spermaticus many Teiid genera display a welt which has free 

 borders. These borders are pectinate in Cnemldo phorus. There is 

 apijarently no difference in the penial characters of C nemidlpliorus 

 and Ameiva. 



