140 



sunken. Maxillary teeth -with conical or rounded crowns. Pterygoid 

 teeth present. Palatine bones not meeting in the median line ; palate 

 therefore with two clefts, one from each nostril. 



Of this genus 31 species are recognized. N. A., Cent. A., Asia, 

 Africa. 



Eumeces faseiatus, (Linn.). 

 Red-headed Lizard ; Blue-tailed Skink. 



Lacerta fasciata, Linnseup, 1758, 6*^, ed. x, i, 209; ed. xii, 369; L. 

 quinquelineata, Linnseus, 1766, 6'^, ed. xii, 366; Plestiodon erythrocephalus, 

 Holbrook, 1842, 54-, ii, 117, pi. 16; Scincus qidnquelineatus, Holbrook, 

 1842, 54, ii, 121, pi. 17; Scineus faseiatus, Holbrook, 1842, 54, ii, 127, 

 pi. 18 ; Eumeces faseiatus, Cope, 1875, 12, 45 ; Eumeces quinquelineatus, 

 BouJenger, 1887, 29, iii, 369. 



Head short, broad behind, wedged-shaped in front. Snout short, ob- 

 tuse. Nasal plate pierced by the nostril. Behind this is the postnasal, 

 which joins the first labial. Behind the postnasal comes the loral, which 

 joins the plate in the median line, the fronto-nasal. Vertical large, in 

 contact with three anterior supraoculars. On the back of the head, in 

 the median line, is the interparietal, in which a faint whitish spot indi- 

 cates the position of the pineal eye. Ear opening smaller than the eye, 

 the tympanic disk deeply sunken. No distinct neck nor gular fold. 

 AVhen the limbs are pressed to the sides they overlap. Tail longer than 

 the head and body. Length of hind limb in the distance from the snout 

 to the vent nearly or quite two and a half times. Scales of the back, 

 sides and abdomen about equal in size, smooth, 28 or 32 longitudinal rows 

 around the middle of the body. A row of enlarged scales on the under 

 side of the tail. 



Young and middle sized individuals are nearly black above, with five 

 yellow lines running from the head to the middle of the tail. The me- 

 dian line forks on the head. The extremity of the tail is often bright 

 blue. The abdomen is bluish white. As the animal grows older the 

 stripes become obscure, the general color fades to olive or brownish, and 

 the head becomes bright red. These older specimens were long regarded 

 as belonging to a distinct species. Even Holbrook, who lived where the 

 animal is abundant, described it under three nam^, as cited above. 



The total length may be as much as 13 inches, and even more. 



The species is distributed from Massachusetts to Wyoming and south. 

 In Indiana it appears to be pretty generally and abundantly distributed 

 in the southern half of the State. Since it has also been found in Mich- 

 igan, there seems to be no reason why it should not also occur in Northern 

 Indiana. The following are localities from which I have seen specimens : 



