612 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. 



Baker and the rest of the U. S. Fish Commission party nor by Dr. 

 Richmond and myself. Its present scarcity is probably due to the 

 mongoose. 



Mdbuya sloanii occurs also in the Virgin Islands, and according to 

 Garman the form inhabiting Haiti is identical with the Porto Rican 

 species. 



Genus AMEIVA« Meyer. 



1795. Ameiva Meyer, Synops. Kept., p. 27 (type A. amcricana = Lacerta ameiva). 



1820. Amaiva Kuhl, Beitr. Zool., p. 115 (emend.). 



1840. Amieva Gray, Ann. Nat. Hist., V, p. 114 (error). 



1843. Scolocnemis Fitzinger, Syst. Kept., p. 20 (type A. lateristriga). 



1843. Pholidoscelis Fitzinger, Syst. Rept., p. 20 (type .4. major). 



1871. Amiva Cope, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1871, p. 220 (emend.). 



The family Teiida?, to which the Ameivas belong, represent in the 

 New World the Old World typical Lacertida?. Some of the species, 

 like the South American "Teju," reach a considerable size. In places 

 where the true Iguana does not occur, as in Porto Rico, they are often 

 known to the inhabitants by this name. 



Within our area only two forms occur, namely, Ameiva exul, in 

 Porto Rico and Vieques, and the form recently described by Boulenger 

 as A. alboguttata from Mona Island. They are very closely related, 

 the latter being plainly descended from the former. The main differ- 

 ences are as follows: 



a 1 Generally white-spotted only on the posterior half of the back; femoral pores 

 averaging 15.5 on each side; number of scales in fifteenth tail segment from 

 base averaging 45; median gulars forming a group of slightly enlarged scales; 

 plates on upper arm much wider than long A. exul, p. 612. 



a 2 Back with white spots to the neck; femoral pores averaging 13.3 on each side; 

 number of scales in fifteenth tail segment from base 34; median gular group of 

 enlarged scales less differentiated, often confluent with the adjoining scales; 

 plates on upper arm slightly wider than long A. alboguttata, p. 618. 



AMEIVA EXUL ^ (Cope). 



1862. Ameiva plei Cope, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1862, p. 65 (not of Dumeril and 

 Bibrox); (St. Thomas, Santa Cruz, Porto Rico). — Peters, Mon. Ber. 

 Berlin. Akad. Wiss., 1876, p. 708 (Porto Rico). — Gundlach, Anal. Soc. 

 Espafi. Hist. Nat., X, 1881, p. 311 (Porto Rico). — Stahl, Fauna Puerto- 

 Rico, 1882, pp. 69, 158 (Porto Rico). 



1862. Ameiva plei var. exul Cope, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1862, p. 66 (type locality, 



Water Island; type U.S.N.M. No. 30696; A. H. Riise, collector). 



1863. Ameiva riisei Reinhardt and Luetken, Vid. Meddel. Naturh. Foren. , ( Copen- 



hagen) 1862, p. 232; authors' separate, p. 80 (St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. 

 John, Water Island, Vieques, Porto Rico). — Bocourt, Miss. Sci. Mex., 

 Zool., Rept., 1874, livr. 4, pi. xx, B, rigs. 3-3c (St. Thomas). 



"Said to be a local South American name; first mentioned by Margrave. 

 &A wanderer; an exile. 



