2o6 VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF THE UNITED STATES 



C2 In the eastern, central and southern States; back with 



5 yellow dorsal stripes in young P. fasciatus. 



hi Scales on body in 26 to 28 rows; adult without stripes. . . P. obsoletus. 

 bs Scales on body in 24 to 26 rows. 



Ci Back with 2 broad black bands P. anthracinus. 



C2 Back with 8 to 10 pale stripes P. multimrgatus. 



C3 Back with 4 green stripes P. pluvialis. 



b4 Scales on body in 22 rows; in Florida P. cgregius. 



a2 In Texas and the southwest. 



bi Body without stripes P. guttulatus. 



bo Back with 4 yellow stripes P. tetragrammus. 



as On the Pacific slope P. skiltonianus. 



P. septentrlonalis Baird. Body stout; tail seven-fourths the length 

 of the body; color Hght green with 4 dorsal black stripes and a lateral 



Fig. III. — Plestiodon fasciatus {from Fowler). 



black stripe on each side between 2 white ones: Minnesota, Dakota, 

 Nebraska and Kansas. 



P . fasciatus (L.) (P. quinquelineatus'L.) . Blue-tailed skink; scorpion 

 (Figs. 99, III). Length 240 mm.; tail 130 mm.; color black in youth 

 (100 mm.) with 5 dorsal yellow stripes on body and a blue tail, brown 

 or olive in adult males with the stripes faint or absent; head red: 

 Massachusetts to Florida; westward to Arizona; up the Mississippi 

 Valley to Canada; rare and small (150 mm.) towards the north; common 

 in the south. 



P. obsoletus Baird & Girard. Body large, 300 mm. long; color hght 

 oHve; young black with 5 faint stripes: Kansas to Utah; southward into 

 Mexico. 



P. anthracinus Baird. Length 140 mm. ; tail 8 mm. ; color dark olive 

 green, with 2 light lines on each side between which is a black band ; tail 

 bluish: from the Appalachian region to Missouri and Texas; common in 

 the southern mountains. 



