CROCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 379 



fold aud runs back to the tail, which api^ears entirely without adjacent 

 bars. It occupies a width of two half scales, the innermost of opposite 

 sides separated on the back by a width of six scales (sometimes seven!), 

 the outermost separated by about three rows from the lower lateral 

 stripe, which is bordered below by dusky, the under parts being yel- 

 lowish. Between the lateral light lines is a dusky stripe, quite dark in 

 adult males, though spotted with yellowish and really commencing 

 behind the eye as a narrow line. Along the central line of the back is 

 a broad stripe of the ground color, without blotches, and four rows of 

 scales wide, and the interval between this space and the lateral stripes 

 (one and two half scales) is crossed obliquely by a succession of about 

 ten oblique dusky bars, from head to above anus. These bars are 

 really the thickened inner legs of V-shaped marks, the outer legs in the 

 dusky lateral stripe, but more or less obscured there, and sometimes 

 quite indistinct on the back. In the male there is a dull patch of bluish 

 on each side of the belly, but no black border. The dusky stripe below 

 the lower lateral line, however, runs on to the anterior face of the thigh. 

 The blue patches are separated on the belly by a wide interval. There 

 is a blue patch, sometimes confluent and suffused with black, on each 

 side of the chin. There is a short blackish line from the lateral fold to 

 the shoulder, and several transverse ones across the top of head. 



The general impression of color at a distance is that of a yellow-olive 

 sheen, with two lateral yellowish stripes and three dusky ones (the 

 upper a series of blotches), with a broad uncolored stripe down the mid- 

 dle of the back. There is no tendency to a meeting of the dorsal 

 blotches, nor are there any bands on the tail. 



This form appears to me to be rather a race of the S. tindulatus than 

 a distinct species. I at one time supposed it to be characterized by the 

 presence of two parietal plates on each side, but I lind, on examining 

 larger material, that this character is entirely exceptional. In fact, there 

 is iio material difference in the i>lates of the head between this species 

 and undulatns, except that they are smoother. The scales of the hind 

 leg and undersurface of tail are, however, much smoother. The most 

 appreciable difference is in color, the latter never having the sharply 

 defined yellow lines on each side, nor the broad nnblotched stripe on 

 the back. The tail of eonsobrinus also is always without blotches, except 

 occasionally on the median line. The blue marks on the belly and chin 

 are less intense. 



The smoothness of the scales ou the inside of the hind leg must be 

 relied on in many cases to distinguish the species from S. thaycri (of 

 much the same size) when the lateral markings are obscure. Even in 

 this case, however, the light dorsal interval will generally be found 

 well defined, and the tail without lateral, if any, blotches. 



Specimens from the Upper Colorado region, Cat. Nos. 4360-4362, differ 

 in some respects from the type, with an approximation to S. iindKlatus. 



This lizard is found all over Texas and is very variable in its charac- 



