462 4. ANGUID.^ 



Description. — Body long and rather slender, with short 

 limbs and long tail. Head pointed, with flattened top and 

 almost vertical sides, its temporal regions sometimes slightly 

 swollen. Rostral plate large, and rounded in upper out- 

 line. Behind it, on top of the head, follow a pair of small 

 internasals, a pair of prefrontals, a moderate-sized or large 

 azygous prefrontal, a pair of prefrontals, a long frontal, a 

 pair of frontoparietals, two parietals with an interparietal 

 between them, and a pair of occipitals separated by one in- 

 teroccipital. Two series of (five and three) supraoculars 

 and a series of small superciliaries. Temporal scales all 

 smooth. Upper labials much larger than lower. Below 

 latter, two series of sublabial plates, lower much the larger. 

 Gular scales imbricate and smooth. Scales on upper sur- 

 faces and sides of neck, body and tail large, rhomboidal, 

 arranged in both transverse and longitudinal series, smooth 

 ever>'where except on the middorsal region where six or 

 eight rows (three or four on each side) may be weakly 

 keeled. Number of longitudinal dorsal series on body 

 fourteen. Number of transverse series between occipital 

 plates and back of thighs varj'ing from 50 to 57. A band 

 of granules along each side from large ear-opening to anus, 

 usually hidden by a strong dermal fold. Ventral plates 

 about size of dorsals, smooth, imbricate, and arranged in 

 12 longitudinal series. Number of scales from symphy- 

 seal plate to anus var^'ing at least from 62 to 69. 



The ground color above, in adults, is ashy, drab, light 

 brown, or grayish olive, paler on the sides, and crossed on 

 the neck and body by about 10 to 12 continuous, broad 

 bands of darker brown of varying shade. These bands 

 usually are of about the width of three transverse rows of 

 scales, are more or less undulate, and usually have black- 

 ish borders, at least behind. These posterior black borders 

 cf the brown bands become more intense laterally, where 



