ALLIGATOR LIZARDS 631 



wise and crosswise. Coloration above, dark grayish, greenish, or brownish, with or 

 without dark cross-bands. Under surface bluish gray. Movements slow; wriggles along 

 clumsily, with much sidewise bending of body. 



Occurrence. — Moderately common on west slope of Sierra Nevada from Upper Sonoran 

 Zone (webbii) to lower part of Hudsonian Zone (palmeri). Recorded from Pleasant 

 Valley eastward to Tuolumne Meadows.*i Lives on ground under chaparral and forest 

 cover. 



People often mistakenly attribute poisonous qualities to any unusual 

 or formidable-looking animal, particularly if it be a reptile, and this is 

 eminently true in the ease of the Alligator Lizards. These lizards often 

 attain considerable size, their heads are of the diamond shape popularly 

 thought to be indicative of poisonous properties, and the temper of the 

 animals is such that when handled they usually make an effort to bite. 

 But the damage which one of these lizards can inflict on a person is usually 

 limited to a sharp pinch from the strongly muscled jaws, without drawing 

 blood. There are no poison glands whatever in this or any other of our 

 California lizards. 



The Alligator Lizard gains its popular name from the resemblance 

 which the animal bears to the alligator, both in appearance and supposed 

 temperament. The head is a prominent feature (pi. 586) and gains in 

 prominence as the individual increases in age, being no wider than the 

 body in young animals but decidedly wider in old adults. The tail is long 

 and slender and when unbroken is nearly twice the length of the head 

 and body. This member is easily broken off, as it is in the cases of swifts 

 and whip-tailed lizards; in the present species it readily grows out again, 

 sometimes to nearly its original form and size, its regeneration here being, 

 as a rule, more nearly perfect than it is in some of the other species of 

 lizards. (See pi. 58b, d.) The fold of skin along the side of the body 

 serves as a sort of expansion joint which can be opened out when the 

 animal is puffed up, when it is excited, or when it is filled with food. 



Both in the foothill country and in the high mountains the Alligator 

 Lizards live on the ground, on chaparral- and tree-covered hillsides. Some- 

 times an individual is to be found in the edge of grassland, but the species 

 does not go far out into the open. The legs and feet are small and weak. 



part of the Yosemite region from Pleasant Valley eastward to Smith Creek (6 miles east 

 of Coulterville) and to the western part of the floor of Yosemite Valley, at the foot of 

 Rocky Point. It is characterized by having the scales on the back in 14 lengthwise rows 

 and the scales on the side of the head behind the eye (temporal region) smooth. The 

 general tone of color is brown or grayish brown, with about 10 well marked dark bands 

 across the back. (See pi. 58b.) 



Sierra Alligator Lizard, Gerrhonotus palmeri Stejneger, the species which is found 

 in the higher portions of the Sierra Nevada (Canadian Zone chiefly), was recorded locally 

 from Chinquapin, Merced Grove Big Trees, and the eastern part of the floor of Yosemite 

 Valley (from the village) eastward to Tuolumne Meadows, and near Merced Lake. The 

 scales on the back and sides are in 16 longitudinal rows and those of the temporal region 

 are faintly keeled. The general tone of color is olive, not banded, but with ill-defined 

 dark markings, and with sharp points of white along the sides. (See pi. 58c, d.) 



