388 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1808. 



at the head as vstripes, one behind the middle of the eye, the other in a 

 line with the suborbital plates, but above the shoulder they break up into 

 the crescentic blotches, of which there are nine or ten, to above anus. 

 These blotches are formed by a U of black, the convexity behind, and 

 the legs filled up by darker olive than elsewhere. They are bordered 

 behind by narrow yellowish crescents, running into the lateral stripes. 

 There is around black spot immediately above the insertion of the arm 

 on a line with the lowermost dark stripe, and a short perpendicular bar 

 from the median dusky stripe on the neck to the shoulder; in the male 

 running along the anterior face of the arm, but always separated from 

 the black spot mentioned. There are two well-defined black lines on 

 the posterior face of the thigh. The legs are barred with dusky, each 

 bar bordered behind by yellowish. The under parts are yellowish 

 white, the chin coarsely marbled or reticulated with bluish, sometimes 

 greenish white. The tail is decidedly banded and blotched. 



The male has an oblong blue patch on each side tlie belly, extending 

 from (but not in) axilla to groin. The median light interspace is linear 

 and about six scales wide. The upper series of blotches is contained in 

 a width of about two and two half scales; the upper light line is about 

 one and two half scales. 



In some larger si)ecimens from the upper Missouri (Cat. No. -888) the 

 dark crescents are more obsolete, and the blue on the side of belly is 

 much darker internally, almost black, but does not extend on the anterior 

 face of the thigh. In one specimen only, which appears to be very old 

 and highly colored (Cat. No. 2842), the whole under surface of the femur 

 •is blackish, this color extending forward from the inner edge of the blue 

 ventral blotches to the breast, separated there by a narrow light space 

 from a blackish band across the throat. The space in front of the 

 shoulder is black, with a white spot. The under surface of the head is 

 blue, speckled with whitish, and faintly blotched with black. 



The typical specimens of S. gracilis (Cat. No. 3063), from Oregon, I 

 can not distinguish from those of S. graciosus except by the more obso- 

 lete nature of the markings. They appear rather more slender, but 

 this may be owing to having been preserved in too strong alcohol. A 

 specimen from upper Pitt River (Cat. No. 2832) appears precisely like 

 Cat. No. 2888 fromuj^per Missouri; like them, having the blotches less 

 distinct than in the type specimens. » 



This species, though quite similar to 8. scalar is of Wiegmann, is 

 readily distinguished, with other features, by the smoothness of the 

 cephalic plates, and by the definite direction of the scales of the sides 

 of the body. 



This is a pretty species, which is especially abundant in the Great 

 Basin region. The most northern locality of its range with which I am 

 acquainted is Summer Lake, Oregon, where I caught specimens. Stej- 

 neger records it from the Painted Desert, Arizona, I have observed a 

 slight variety of it from near the city of Jalapa, Mexico, in the collec- 

 tion of the Comision Geographica et Exploiadora of Mexico, 



