REPTILES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 101 



lower caudal scales keeled. Tympanum entirely covered 

 with granular scales. Femoral pores arranged in long 

 series, eighteen or twenty on each side. 



The body is ash-color or yellowish olive above, with a 

 narrow median dorsal line of black or dark brown, ex- 

 tending from the occiput to the base of the tail. There 

 is a brown blotch on each side of the neck. Double 

 series of rounded dark spots ornament each side of the 

 back, uniting to form faint cross-bars on tlie tail. The 

 lower surfaces are silvery or yellowish white. 



Length to aniis 48 



Length of tail 22 



Snout to ear 9 



Width of head 17 



Length of occipital spine 6 



Fore limb 23 



Hind limb 29 



Base of fifth to end of fourth toe 10 



Distribution. — The locality in San Diego County at 

 which the original specimen of this species was secured 

 is stated as the Great Desert of the Colorado, between 

 Vallecita and Camp Yuma, about one hundred and 

 sixty miles east of San Diego. I believe that this is the 

 only Californian record of the Flat-tailed Horned Toad.* 



Family IV. ANGUID.E. 



In the lizards of this family, the tongue is formed of 

 a larger, thick, posterior portion, and a smaller, thin, 

 emarginate, anterior part which is more or less retrac- 

 tile into a fold of the posterior portion. The imbricate 

 scales are reinforced with bony plates. In some genera 

 the limbs are well developed, but in others they are 



♦Yarrow and Henshaw record several specimens from the Mojave Desert as belouging 

 to this species (Surv. W. 100th Mer., Append. NN, 1878, p. 225), but these, doubtless, were 

 really P. platyrhinos. 



