TEIID LIZARDS OF THE GENUS CNEMIDOPHOEUS 233 



Description. — Snout only moderately pointed; nostril anterior to 

 nasal sntiiro; iuitorior nasal usually not in contact Avith second 

 upper labial; .supraocular usually 3 or 4, rarely 5; <^ranules ex- 

 tending for a greater or lesser distance between the supraoculars 

 and the median head plates; frontoparietal normally entire; parietals 

 3; occipitals more or less regularly arranged, if in two rows, 

 posterior smaller; anterior gulars moderate to large, graded and 

 usually decidedly largest centrally; posterior gulars small, granular; 

 scales of mesoptychium often large, these may or may not be largest 

 centrally, often uniform in size; mesoptychial scales arranged in 

 3-5 rows; postmesoptychial granules usually hid beneath edge of 

 fold. 



Body elongate; Tentral plates in 8 longitudinal and 20-35 trans- 

 verse rows; dorsal granules small. Limbs moderately well devel- 

 oped, often weak in appearance; brachials 4-G; antebrachials 2-3; 

 brachials more or less continuous with antebrachials at a point of 

 contact; postantebrachium Avith a few slightly enlarged granules; 

 femorals -J— 6; tibials 2-4; femoral pores 12-22. Tail relatively 

 fragile, elongate, tapering; caudal plates large, oblique, and with 

 only moderately strong longitudinal keels laterally. 



Coloration distinctive, relatively fixed from young to adult; ven- 

 tral and caudal aspect similar to that of caeruleus and danheimae ; 

 tiiroat usually orange colored in males, duller in females, often slaty 

 or bluish; ventral parts of body and tail usually suffused with more 

 or less pinkish or bluish of a light hue ; anal region and under sur- 

 faces of appendages lighter; tail lined laterally and often dorsally 

 for some distance from base; femur striped behind, often reticulated 

 or lined above, but never covered with round spots ; back with from 

 one to three dorsal lines; sides with two lines each, these relatively 

 Avider and more distinct than dorsal stripe or stripes; ground color 

 or body broAvnish, grayish, or blackish, })ut not reddish; field between 

 lateral stripes not abruptly lighter or darker than the ground color 

 of the wide dorsal region between the upper lateral stripes; spots 

 absent from all fields, 



Yanation. — A total of 5CG specimens have been examined. Since 

 there is the possibility that someone might Avish to reconsider the 

 relationships of the forms described b}" Van Denburgh and Slevin as 

 espiritenMs, franciscensis, and sehmidfl, data pertaining to each 

 Avill be presented here in separate paragraphs. ])rior to the considera- 

 tion of the other specimens of ht/2)erytJiru.'<. 



Only nine specimens of " espintensis " froui Espiritu Santo Island, 



off the east coast of the Cape District of Lower Califoi-nia. haA'e been 



examined. A summary of the data taken from theui follows: 



Body, 51-G2 mm.; taif, 142-180; total lengtli. 102-248; length of 



2306—31 IG 



