The Striped Lizards or " Race Runners " 



back. Abdomen red. Appears to retain the striped pattern 

 through life. 



Attains a length of eight inches; tail 5 J inches. 



Disliibittion. — The peninsula of Lower California, and 

 as far north as San Diego, California. An abundant lizard. 



Van Denburgh's Striped Lizard, Cnemidophorus sericeus, 

 (Van Denburgh). — Closely allied to the preceding, as it has a 

 single plate behind the frontal — between the eyes. 



Colouration. — Dark brown above, with a central, bluish- 

 white stripe, forking on the neck; two similar stripes on each 

 side. Sides much paler than the back. Abdomen bluish. 



Attains a length of about eight inches. 



Disirihiilion. — Recorded from San Jose Island, Gulf of 

 California. 



The Large Striped Lizard, Cnemidophorus maximus, (Cope). 

 — This, and all of the succeeding North American species of 

 Cnemidophorus, have a pair of plates behind the large frontal — 

 between the eyes. 



Largest species of the genus; grows to a length of two feet 

 and occasionally longer. Plates of the abdomen in eight rows. 

 Scalation of the back exceedingly fine. 



Colouraiion. — Olive brown above, with three brown bands 

 on each side, about as wide as the intervals between them; 

 these are often so broken by spots of the ground-colour as to 

 resemble row^s of light spots or confluent variations of the ground- 

 colour. (Cope). 



Upper surface of tail and sides of neck black. Shields of 

 the abdomen tipped with black. Under surface of tail and hind 

 limbs, bright yellow. 



Old specimens are so strongly barred with light and dark 

 hues that the pattern lacks all traces of stripes. The young 

 have strongly defined and uninterrupted light and dark bands. 



Distribution. — The Cape Region, Lower California. 



The Tessellated Lizard, Cnemidophorus iesseUatus, (Say). — 

 Attains a length of sixteen inches. Differs from the large striped 

 lizard by the coarser scales on the back, the narrow and brighter 

 stripes and its smaller size. 



Colouration. — Young, dark olive, with four to seven pale 

 yellow stripes on the back and sides, which are narrower than 

 the dark spaces between them. As the lizard grows larger, a 



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