CROCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 523 



about forty-eight from occiput to above anus. There is no median dor- 

 sal ridge or row of scales, the scales forming an even number. There 

 are about one hundred and thirty-six series of whorls or scales on the 

 tail, all carinated except on the under surface. On the belly sheet are 

 twelve series of scales, which are about as wide, but rather shorter 

 than the dorsal, and consequently the whorls not continuous all around 

 the body as they are on the tail. There are about sixty-three series 

 of scales from the chin to the anus, about nineteen or twenty of them 

 belonging to chin and throat. The lower labials are margined inter- 

 nally by a series of wider plates, and these again by a series three 

 times their width. 



The legs are weak and covered with overlapping scales, those on the 

 inner surlace smaller. The posterior surface of the thighs and humerus 

 is like that of the lateral fold. The scales on the upper and anterior 

 surface of the legs are carinate; those in the soles are smooth and 

 tubercular. The digits on each foot are all unequal except the third 

 and fourth, which are nearly equal and longest. The hind leg is but 

 little longer than the fore; the forefoot about two-thirds the hinder. 



The scales are all hard and bony plates, very firm and distinct, covered 

 by a thin epidermis. 



The cephalic plates are quite smooth in the young. With age they 

 become wrinkled longitudinally, and the posterior extremities more 

 angular, elongated, and imbricate. The upper parts are barred with a 

 succession of reddish, black, and pale yellowish rings in such a manner 

 as to render it difBcult to say what is the ground color. There are 

 about twelve narrow black rings on a single whorl from head to tail 

 (and thirty-six or more on the tail). Each is bordered behind by grayish 

 or yellowish white, usually on the edges of the same scale. These rings 

 of black and white, though usually only the width of a single whorl, 

 are not entirely regular, passing sometimes from one whorl to another. 

 Anterior to the black the color is sometimes quite deep red, some- 

 times light brown, passing gradually forward to the next ring into 

 light olive gray. The under parts are light greenish olive, the edge of 

 the scales paler. 



The red of the dorsal intervals usually fades in a whorl to a shade 

 of brownish olive. The light edging to the black often tinges the base 

 of the scales behind it and has much the character of specks of thick 

 white-lead paint. 



The supposed differences between this species and JiJ. scincicauda dis- 

 appear on comparison of a large series of specimens. Some from Mon- 

 terey, California, agree with the types in the very thick head, but the 

 coloration being perhaps more like that of the types of the supposed 

 G. scincicauda. 



The common Gerrhonotus of northern California is very closely 

 related to that found at San Diego, and although a comparison of a 

 large series conveys a general impression of difference, they are not capa- 



