86 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Distribution. — The Scaly Lizard may be considered a 

 member of the desert fauna, although I secured a speci- 

 men near the mouth of the Los Gatos Caiion, about six 

 miles above Coalinga, in the southwestern part of Fresno 

 County. It is not rare along the Colorado River, both 

 at Fort Yuma in San Diego County and at The Needles 

 in San Bernardino County. In the latter county, it has 

 been taken also near the Mojave River at Barstow, at 

 Victor, at Warren's Wells, among the tree-yuccas at 

 Hesperia, and on the desert near the base of Granite 

 Mountains. Specimens have been taken at Mojave 

 Station and Walker Pass, in Kern County, and near 

 Lone Pine and in the Panamint and Argus Mountains 

 in Inyo County, California. 



It crosses southern Nevada to southwestern Utah, the 

 most northern locality at which it has been taken being 

 the Big Bend of the Truckee River, Nevada. 



Habits. — This large lizard is rarely seen on the open 

 desert, preferring the shelter of yuccas, mesquites, cot- 

 tonwoods, and willows, about which it climbs with great 

 agility. Dr. Merriam says it "is a mixed feeder, both 

 insects and flowers being found in the stomachs exam- 

 ined." 



22. — Sceloporus orcutti Stejneger. Dusky Scaly 

 Lizard. 



Sceloporun orcutti, Stejn., N. A. Fanna, No. 7, 1893, p. 181 (foot- 

 note) jjI. 1, figs. 4a-4c (type locality Milquatay Valley, San 

 Diego County, California). 



Description. — Head and body much depressed. Nasal 

 opening a little nearer to end of snout than to orbit. 

 Upper head-plates smooth and usually somewhat con- 

 vex, supraoculars often slightly imbricate. Frontal di- 

 vided transversely. Parietal and frontoparietal plates 

 not separated from large supraoculars. Latter very 



