139 



Lygosoma laterale, (Say). 

 Brown-backed Lizard. 



Sc'mcus laterale, Say, 1823, I4, ii, 32-4; Lygosoma laterale, Holbrook,. 

 1842, J4, ii, 13-5, pi. 19 ; Boulenger, 1887, 29, iii, 263 ; Oligosoma laterale. 

 Cope, 1875, 12, 39. 



A small lizard with a short head, elongated body, a long terete tail, and 

 feebly developed limbs. Head flat above, the perpendicular sides taper- 

 ing to the snout. Lower eyelid with a transparent disk. Ear opening 

 the size of the opening of the eye, the tympanic disk deeply sunken. No 

 gular folds. Limbs lacking much of meeting along the side, the ap- 

 pressed hind leg reaching hardly a third of the distance to the axilla. 

 Body covered with smooth scales, not arranged in straight rows across the 

 body. About thirty scales in oblique row around the middle of the 

 body. 



The color above is olive or brownish, with scattered brown spots, the 

 tail often blue. Side with a brown, white margined stripe running from 

 the eye on to the tail. Below this may be a similar but narrower stripe 

 passing between the fore and the hind limb. Abdomen greenish white. 



The total length is about 5 inches, sometimes as great as 6 or 8 inches. 

 The tail may make up as much as two-thirds of this. The species ranges 

 from Florida and Texas to North Carolina, Indiana and Kansas. Indiana 

 localities from which this species has been reported are few, but it prob- 

 ably inhabits much of the southern portion of the State. Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway has taken it at Wheatland, and has seen it in the " watermelon 

 sands " district of Gibson county. 



Habits. — In some portions of the Southern States this species of lizard 

 is abundant. Holbrook says that they might, in his day, be seen by 

 thousands in the thick forests of oak and hickory of Carolina and Georgia. 

 They emerge from their retreats, after sunset, in search of small insects 

 and worms, on which they live ; yet they appear and disappear so rapidly 

 that they might at first be mistaken for crickets or other insects. It is 

 difficult to secure them alive. They conceal themselves rapidly under 

 roots or beneath leaves. Baird and Girard (37, 229), say that it is always 

 met with running on the surface of the ground in forests, among dead 

 leaves, never ascending either trees or shrubs like many other lizards. It 

 is said to breed in Georgia in March. 



Genus EUMECES, Wiegmann. 



Eumeces, Wiegmann, 1835, 83, ii, 288; Boulenger, 1887, 29, iii, 365. 

 Lizards of moderate proportions. Limbs well developed. Outer nos- 

 tril in the nasal plate. Eyelids with scales. Tympanic disk distinct, deeply 



