132 



BULLETIN 15 4, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



A total of 1,2(30 ypocinu'iis of perplexus have been examined and 

 all are found to be remarkabl}^ unifoini in most proportional and 

 scutellational features. Data from a representative series of 225 

 specimens are as follows: Body, 29-123 mm.; tail, 54^290; total 

 length, 85-413; length of tail as percentage of total length, 64-76; 

 "width of head, 5-20; width of liead as percentage of body length, 

 11.4—10.5; hind leg, 19-77; length of hind leg as percentage of body 

 length, 58-76; frontoparietals two in 224 specimens, and 4 in 1 speci- 

 men; supraoculars 4 in 223 specimens, and 4-5 in 3 specimens; supra- 

 ocular granules not extending forward past the anterior border of 

 tlie fourth supraocular in 170 specimens, but extending to the mid- 

 dle of the third supraocular in 55 specimens. 



Variation. — The dorsal striping is highly variable and data from 

 a series of 109 specimens from distinctive points in the range of 

 perplexu^ are used in the following table to show that there is no 

 geographical consistency in this variation. 



Table of variation in the dorsal striping of C. sexlineatus perplexus 



The specimens selected for the above table were all unspotted 

 young and were conspicuously striped. If the spotted phase had 

 been used the percentage of specimens without a dorsal or seventh 

 stripe would have been greater for apparently this tends to disappear 

 with age. 



The two dorsal stripes in a 6-lined specimen from San Pedro Bay, 

 Sonora (C.A.S. No. 53425) are clo.se set anteriorly and united be- 

 hind to form a broad streak tliere. The remaining four stripes are 

 normal, and the ventral color is typical. The coloration, therefore, 

 is suggestive of lu/pcri/fhrus. 



Some 7-lined specimens from New Mexico have the femur promi- 

 nently reticulated with white as in an example fi'om Albuquerque 

 (U.S.N.M. No. 45100). The appearance of these variants is prob- 

 ably what caused Cope (1900) to refer to pei'ph'xus as a subspecies 



