REPTILES 203 



bi Back with alternating black and white bars G. nohilis. 



ba Back with a few obscure cross bars G. infer nalis. 



G. cceruleus Wieg. Length 290 mm.; tail 180 mm.; color brown or 

 olive with numerous dark cross bands, spotted with white; dorsal 

 scales strongly keeled and in about 16 regular rows; longitudinal rows 

 47 : coast region of California, chiefly north of San Francisco. 



G. scincicaiida (Skilton). Length 270 mm.; tail 160 mm.; color 

 brown or gray with 10 to 14 dark rings across the back, and spotted 

 with white; dorsal scales strongly keeled and in 14 transverse rows and 

 about 51 longitudinal rows: California; common. 



G. palmeri Stejneger. Similar to P. scincicaiida but much less elon- 

 gated and with a different coloration, being either uniform dark olive 

 brown dotted with black and white on the sides or pale bluish drab 

 clouded with irregular blotches: central California, on the western slopes 

 of the Sierra Nevada. 



G. principis (Baird & Girard). Length 300 mm.; tail 190 mm.; 

 color light brown, with a middorsal series of irregular dark blotches; 

 dorsal scales obscurely keeled and in 16 rows: western Washington, 

 Oregon and Vancouver Island. 



G. nohilis (B. & G.). Body very small and slender; color light 

 yellowish olive; back with 10 broad black bars, each with a whitish 

 bar behind; tail with 30 half rings; sides with narrow black bars: 

 Texas to Arizona. 



G. infernalis Baird. Body very small, depressed; tail twice the 

 length of the head and body; color light olive with 7 or 8 obscure 

 dark bars; dorsal scales keeled, lateral scales smooth: southern 

 Texas. 



2. Ophisaurus Daudin. Body snake-like, without legs; eyelids 

 well developed; ear distinct, but small; tail longer than the body: i 

 species. 



0. ventralis (L.). Glass snake. Length 670 mm.; tail 400 mm.; 

 color brown or greenish with a median and 2 lateral stripes; tail very 

 brittle, whence the name of glass snake; to be distinguished from a snake 

 by the eyehds, the ears and the scaly belly: southern and central States; 

 northward into North Carolina, Indiana and Wisconsin; westward to 

 Nebraska and Texas and Mexico; common in dry meadows, where it 

 feeds on insects and worms. 



Family 5. Anniellidae. — Elongate, legless lizards with a cylindrical 

 body and no external ear-opening; eye a narrow slit: i genus and 2 

 species. 



Anniella Gray. With the characters of the family: 2 species. 



