528 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



quite teu scales wide and one long. The legs are faintly blotched; the 

 head very slightly. 



The peculiarities of this species are its very small interfrontonasals, 

 two postnasals only, the indication of a fifteenth dorsal row of scales, 

 the greenish-ash color, without transverse dorsal bands, and with the 

 blackish instead of white dorsal series. 



In the type specimen (Cat. No. 4132) there are forty-eight rows of 

 scales on sixteen transverse series. The interparietal is very small 

 and elongate rhomboidal. The frontal is rather larger, but its general 

 characters the same. 



A series of teu specimens from Fort Point, near Sau Francisco, difler. 

 slightly, though probably the same as E. formosa. They are rougher 

 and more sharply carinated on the back. The head is nearly as deep 

 as broad; the width, however, scarcely two thirds the length (thus nar- 

 rower). The legs are short; the anterior from the elbow about three- 

 fourths the distance from snout to ear, or decidedly less than in the 

 type; the hinder from knee about equal to this distance. The snout 

 to ear is about two-ninths in the head and body, or a little longer in 

 proportion. 



The interparietal is narrow, lozenge shaped. The interfrontouasal, 

 thongh large, is embraced between or encircled by the two postliontals 

 and the two post-iuternasals, which are long. Anterior to the frontal 

 is a smaller median plate in contact with it and the rostral, and sepa- 

 rating the anterior internasals; this, however, is probably not regular. 

 If constant it will establish the species. There are two small post- 

 nasals and three large outer supraorbitals, besides the five on the 

 external edge, as in the type. 



There are sixteen dorsal series of scales, all about of equal width, and 

 the scales in the upper edge of the soft fold just below this are decidedly 

 larger than those of the others. The dorsal ridges are all very distinct 

 and well defined, most conspicuous on the back, where they almost 

 form a mucro. The scales on the upper part of the cheeks and those 

 on the back and sides of neck are distinctly carinated, as are those ou 

 the upper edge of the limbs and on the tail, except on the lower surface. 



There are about fifty-one scales from occiput to tail and sixty-two 

 from chin to anus. This is an appreciably greater number than in the 

 type, and is worthy of consideration. 



The ground colors in this are of an olivaceous reddish gray. There 

 is a dorsal stripe of six and two half scales wide, lighter than the ground 

 color, becoming still lighter, turning almost into a white stripe exter- 

 nally. On each side below this light space are about fourteen approx- 

 imately vertical but rather broken black bars, sharply margined behind 

 with white, each a single scale in width. On the back, and connecting 

 these lateral bars, is a series of fifteen transverse dusky ones, slightly 

 concave anteriorly, but rather irregular. The suborbitals are black, 

 edged below with white; the labials are black and white. The under 

 parts are greenish white. There is no white whatever on the back. 



