TEIID LIZAliDS OF THE GENUS CNElMIDOrHORUS 189 



The species seems partial to sandy areas, but shows the ability to 

 become adapted to a habitat of rocks or brush. By successfully 

 meeting these conditions, tessellatm has shown itself to be one of the 

 most plastic of American lizards. 



In California (Stejneiier, 1893, p. 199) the tessellated lizard has 

 been found to inhabit the open desert of Death Valley, and it has 

 been reported from the Salton Sink at 2G5 feet below sea level 

 (Cowles, 1920, p. G5). 



On the gravelly washes along the bases of the mountains the whip- 

 tail is frequently seen during the months of June, July, and August. 

 It is fairly numerous in the Arroyo Seco, Tujunga and San Gabriel 

 "Washes, and occurs also in favorable places on the hot slopes well 

 up into the mountain ranges (Los Angeles County). Close around 

 Pasadena, the whiptail lizard is now much less abundant than for- 

 merly. It used to occur about Devil's Gate in the same sort of 

 region that the road-runner and the cactus wren like. All of these 

 native inhabitants are becoming scarce as the region is settled and 

 hunters persecute its wild life more persistently. (Grinnell and 

 Grinnell, 1907, p. 35.) 



On the mesa among the cactus plants at Cabezon, Calif. (At- 

 satt, 1913, p. 40), and at Snow Creek amid the leaves under the 

 cottonwoods or among the rocks, this species has been frequently seen. 

 In the vicinity of the Turtle Mountains of southeastern California 

 the whiptail lizard seems to occur abundantly in every phase of the 

 environment, except the rocky mesa, from hillside to sand dune. 

 (Camp, 191G, p. 530.) It Avas especially well represented on the 

 rocky hillsides where individuals ceaselessly forage. 



In the Yosemite region the swiftest of all lizards is the California 

 whiptail, which occurs at certain locations in the western part of 

 the section. This re^^tile is ordinarily considered as an inhabitant 

 of the desert regions, and in truth it is. But it also occurs, or did 

 formerly, on much of the floor of the San Joaquin Valley, and it 

 penetrates into the foothills wherever there are conditions suitable 

 for its existence. (Grinnell and Storer, 1924, p. 032.) Its distribu- 

 tion in this region is not continuous, hoAvever. 



From the ocean to the desert in the brushy areas of San Diego 

 County, Klauber (1928, p. 4) found the darker phase of this lizard 

 to be common. On the desert in " sandy, rockstrewn areas " the 

 lighter or brownish phase was found to appear, however. 



In the Great Basin of the United States — that is, in the country 

 between the Sierra Xevada and the Rockies — the dorsal coloration 

 of tessellatus is predominantly brown and the ventral coloration 

 often deep black or slaty. Here this subspecies occurs chiefly in 

 the sandy habitat. 



