TEIID LIZARDS OF THE GEXI'S CXEMIDOPHOEUS 51 



Affinities. — This species is very probably tlie most primitive mod- 

 ern form of the <reinis ('ncmidopJiorus. In the g'reater number of 

 caudal plates, the small size of the brachials, the presence of a patch 

 of enlar<red postbrachials, the higher number of longitudinal rows 

 of ventral plates, the presence of five parietal shields, the retention of 

 a vestigial sheath betAveen the larynx and the posterior tips of the 

 scah^ portion of the tongue, and in the spotted pattern of the adult, 

 it is like Am< iva ameica amelva of the neighboring South American 

 mainland. However, mi/rhnii^ is specialized from Ameiva ameiva 

 ameiva in its smaller maximum size, higher average number of 

 femoral pores, reduced lingual sheath, and in the presence of well 

 developed anal spurs in some specimens. Thus, it is seen that 

 murinus shows a transition from Ameiva to C nejiiidophorus in many 

 ways, including tlie character of the tongue. It serves as a link, 

 apparently, between the prototypic Ameiva ameiva ameiva on the 

 mainland (Avhich is probably the nearest modern approach to the 

 ancestral Teiid stock Avhich gave rise to murinus) and the other 

 species of Cnemidophorus. This subject will be elaborated in the 

 general summary at the end of this work (pp. 251-260). 



As shown by Ruthven (1923, p. 8), munnus resembles anibensis 

 in coloration. It differs chiefly in the increased number of longi- 

 tudinal rows of ventral plates, having 10 or 12 large series instead 

 of 8. There is apparently little doubt that this geographically 

 adjacent anibensis has arisen from murinus, presumably since its iso- 

 lation on Aruba. 



Murinus is apparently related to the smaller, much modified 

 Jemniscatus only indirectly and through arube7isis, but there is the 

 bare j^ossibility that the two were once connected by an ancient com- 

 mon stock. 



CNEMIDOPHORUS MURINUS ARUBENSIS (Van Lidth d> Jeude) 

 BLAUSANA 



1SS7. Cuemldophoriis anibensis Van Lidtii de Jeude. Notes from the Leydeii 

 Mus., vol. 9. p. 132 (type locality, "Aruba," Dutch West Indies ).—Boulexgeb, 

 Zool. Rec. for 1887, vol. 24, " Reptilia," 1888, p. 11 ; Proc. Zool. Sec. London, 

 1894, p. 724. — Hartert, Xovitates Zoologicae (Tring Mus.), vol. 9, 1902. p. 

 294.— Gadow, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1906, p. 301.— Roou, Bijdragen tot de 

 Dierkunde (Feest Numnier. . . . van Dr. Max Weber), vol. 22, 1922, pp. 

 249, 252. — RuTHVEX, Occas. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Mich., no. 143, 1923, p. S. — 

 Wek.ner, Zeitsch. f. wissen.sch. Zool., vol. 125. 1925, pp. 537, 545 (part). 



3910. C'nemidoijJiorvs nigricolor Meek, Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., zool. ser., 

 vol. 7, p. 417 (part). 



/>iaf/nosis. — The blausana is intermediate between murinus and 

 Jemniscatus. From murinus it is distinguished by its reduced number 

 of full-sized ventral plates, having 8 instead of 10 or 12. It 



