290 



REPORT OF NA.TIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



and body. Ten or more supraorbital scuta ; plates of muzzle flat; labials 

 exceedingly narrow, live in number, followed by a flat one. Femoral 

 pores 16-18. A pair of blue spots on the side; none under the tail. 



This species, in addition to the general characters of the type H. 

 maculata, diflers in the excessive minuteness of the dorsal scales, which 

 can scarcely be counted, even with a good lens. The head is more 

 elongated and quite plane from above the end of the eye, instead of 

 slightly convex. Its width reaches only from the end of snout to mid- 

 dle of occipital, instead of behind it. There are seven oblique upper 

 labials instead of six. The legs are all much longer; thus the hind 

 foot is decidedly more than two-fifths the head and body instead of 

 only one third or even less (two-sevenths). The free portion of hind 



Fig. 31. 



HOLBKOOKIA PROPINQUA BAIRD AND GlKAED. 

 X 3. 

 Cat. No. 15669, U.S.N. M. * 



toe reaches far behind the occipital plate from snout, instead of only to 

 about its middle. The plates on lower jaw margining the under labials 

 are smaller, those on the temples fewer and larger, the two series being 

 about equal; in H. maculata the case is reversed, and the upper plates 

 are smaller and more numerous. 



The coloration is much the same. The indigo-black patches on the 

 sides, however, are much more lengthened, forming short, oblique cres- 

 cents, running up into the gray of the sides, the convexity anterior. 

 They are about four times as long as wide, instead of mere oval blotches. 

 There is very frequently a third, more posterior and less distinct, one. 

 The female has quite a decided light stripe between the fore and hind 

 legs, the lateral bars more vertical, shorter, and less distinct. 



