TKilD LlZAltDS OF TUE GENUS CNEMlDOi'llOUUS 107 



]i()s(jnit('bi-achiiils. nnd to n A'(Miti'al patch of blackisli-bhic, scinc to 

 idciitily hocdiirti! with (inhir/s. The chief characteristic of llic 

 species has been interpreted to be the loss of hues and the assunij)- 

 tion of a sparsely spotted ^ai'b. The known si)eciincns are all 

 laroc, that is. achdts. (Jadow (1!H)(;. p. 'll~i) reported hocourfil from 

 near the town of Oaxaca. and (p. 117) said that '* Structurally, this 

 lizard is but a sliaht variety of incricauus, with wliicli it shares the 

 same distribution, except that it is more ])artial to denser vegetation. 

 It is spotted instead of cross-barred oi- stri]:)ed.'"' He also said that 

 hocourtii is structually indistinguisiiable from many specimens of 

 occidentallH (p. 357), but nevertheless considered it as "one of the 

 most easily recognized forms of the gularis group." All of this 

 tends to indicate tliat hocourtii is none too firndy fixed as a taxono- 

 mi(; entity. During this study it has been found that in some 

 regions many of the adults are hocourtii and that everywhei'e the 

 young are typical (jularls (or ?)i'\rlc(f/iu,s. as Gadow exi)resses it). 

 Specimens of both types have been observed from the following 

 localities in Mexico: Coahuila {Sahliuis, U.S.N.M.) ; Oaxaca 

 (Oa.xaca, U.S.N.M.) ; Chiapas {Oro-ucuatitla, U.S.N.M.) ; and in 

 Guatemala, Department of Jalapa {El Rancho, U.S.N.M., F.M. 

 N.H.). Large spesimens from Guatemala, collected at El Progreso, 

 Jalapa, and Guatemala, Guatemala (C.A.S.), are of the hocourtii 

 type and no doubt the young are Gdined as are those from El 

 Rancho. Thus, hocourtii also becomes a synonym of gularis. 



The original description of Cnemidojyhorus communis australis 

 from Oaxaca by Gadow (I'JOG) is very confusing and is so involved 

 that it is sometimes contradictory. Thus, it is found that he recog- 

 nized different variation in his discussion (p. 354) than in his 

 "tables of comparison" ([>. 321)). In the latter he listed the bra- 

 chials as 7-9 in number, the postantebrachials as granular, and 

 the femoral pores as 19-2(), but in the former it was said that the 

 brachials are S-10, the postantebrachials sometimes polygonal, and 

 the femoral pores, 17-23. It was noted that australis differed from 

 coi^el in the possession of an entirely granular forearm, but this 

 character is highly variable, as Gadow himself maintained else- 

 where, and variation from granules through polygones to scutes is 

 often seen in series of gularis (as well as in perp?e.vus). 



The appearance of scutes ciiiefl}' in the large individuals and of 

 granules chiefly in the young, tends to indicate a moderate differen- 

 tiation of these scales during development. As to the significance 

 of australis, Gadow wrote : '' One might be inclined to assume that 

 in the coastal district of Colima the transition from immutahilis 

 {=guttatus) to cojjcl takes place; just as in certain parts of Oaxaca 

 there are large CnemldopJiorl which might be interpreted either as 



