REPTILES 



205 



or blotched: in the adult western Texas to California; northward into 

 Colorado and central Cahfornia; common in dry sandy places. 



C. mdanostethus Cope. Length 315 mm.; tail 230 mm.; color oliva- 

 ceous, with 12 to 14 longitudinal series of pale spots; tail unicolor, above 

 and below: southern Arizona. 



C. per plexus B. & G. Length 260 mm.; tail 180 mm.; color olive 

 with 7 pale dorsal stripes; belly unspotted: Texas and New Mexico. 



C. grahami B. & G. Length 350 mm.; 8 rows of black spots above 

 and on the sides: southern Texas. 



Family 9. Scincidae. — Skinks. Small, active hzards with smooth 

 scales underlaid with bony plates; head covered with symmetrical 



Fig. 1 10. — Cnemidophoms sexlineatus {from Dilmars). 



plates; tongue free, notched in front; eyelids well developed; pupil 

 round; legs present or absent: about 200 species; cosmopolitan; ovo- 

 viviparous; about 14 species in the United States. 



Key to the Genera of Scincidae 



ai Legs and digits normal. 



bi Ear-opening denticulate at the anterior margin i. Plestiodon. 



b2 Ear-opening not denticulate 2. Leiolopistna. 



3.2 Legs diminutive; toes reduced in number 3. Neoseps. 



I. Plestiodon Dumeril & Bibron {Eumeces Wiegmann). Body 

 small, with glossy, shining scales; lower eyelid scaly; palate with teeth: 

 30 species, in America, Africa and Asia; 12 species in the United States; 

 diurnal; terrestrial. 



Key to the Species of Plestiodon 



ai In the eastern and central States. 



bi Scales on body in 28 or more rows. 

 Ci In the north-central States; back with 4 black stripes. .P. septentrionalis. 



