CROCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 



653 



EUMECES MULTIVIRGATUS Hallowell. 



Eumece.8 inultivir<iatus Cope, Check-list N. Amer. Batr. and Kept., 1875, p. 45. 

 Plestioilon jnnltlrirgaluin Hallowell, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1857, p. 251. 

 Plestiodon iiKirnatus Baird, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 18.58, p. 2.56. 

 Eitmecefi inornatus Copk. Check-list N. Amer. Batr. and Rept., 1875, p. 45. 



Body ('ylindri(;al; slender; legs far apart. Head short; conv^ex 

 above; two postnasals, usually of equal size, one exactly above the 

 other. Very rarely one higher behind the other or divided into two. 

 Seven upper labials. Ear very small, circular. Hind legs applied 

 forward twice fall behind the fore leg, and three times reaches to the 

 angle of the mouth, and is contained three and one-third times in 

 head and body; from knee contained four and a half times. Fore leg 

 from elbow as long or rather longer than from snout to ear, which is 

 contained five and a half or six times in the head and body. Tail one 

 and a half times the 

 head and body. Fifth 

 hind toe shorter than 

 second ; free portion of 

 longest toe more than 

 half the head — about 

 three fifths. There are 

 twenty-four to twenty- 

 six rows of scales round 

 body, and about sixty- 

 threeabove in line from 

 head to tail. The lat- 

 eral rows are quite 

 longitudinal and par- 

 allel to the dorsal. 



Oolor pale olive, 

 green, or gray, lighter 

 beneath and on the 



sides, with four or five brown stripes on each side. Every row of scales 

 striped with brown and tho ground color. There is a narrow whitish 

 stripe through the middle of the third row of scales from the dorsal 

 line; the sides of the scales brown; above this line are two brown 

 stripes, the inner wider; below it are three others, the middle broad- 

 est and along the edge of the head. The scales on the tail and legs 

 are edged with brown; chin paler than the belly; the labials whitish, 

 without brown, except on the upper edge. 



As already stated, the back is much varied with lines of very light 

 olive, greenish, or greenish ash, and brown. The key to the coloration 

 is to be sought in a narrow line, lighter than the rest and sometimes 

 almost white, which begins on the edge of the upper surface of the 

 head and extends backward along the central third of the third row of 

 scales from the median line of the back. The two sides of this row 



Fig. 131. 



EUMECES MDLTIVIRGATUS HALLOWELL. 



X 3. 

 Nebraska. 



Cat. No. 4139, U.S.N.M. 



