476. 6. HELODERMATlDJE—7. XANTUSIID^ 



Reproduction is by means of soft-shelled eggs about two 

 and one-half inches in length, which are said to vary in 

 number from five to thirteen. It is stated that the female 

 digs a hole from three to five inches deep in moist sand in 

 some spot exposed to the sun's rays and usually near a 

 stream, and, having deposited her eggs therein, scrapes back 

 the sand until they are entirely covered. The period be- 

 tween laying and hatching is given as about a month, and 

 the young were about four inches long when they escaped 

 from the eggs. 



Family. 7 XANTUSIID.E 

 This family contains but three genera; one Central 

 American, one West Indian, and one Californian and Lower 

 Californian. The eyes are without lids. The head is cov- 

 ered with large shields. The upper surface of the body is 

 granular or tubercular, but the lower is provided with plates. 

 The tongue is broad, plicate, with tip indistinctly notched. 

 The ear-opening is large. Femoral pores are present. 



Genus 17. Xantusia 



Xantusia Baird, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1858, p. 225 (type, vigilis). 

 TLablepis Cope, Amer. Naturalist, Vol. XXIX, 1895, p. 758 (type, 



kenshaxci) . 

 Amcebofsis Cope, Amer. Naturalist, Vol. XXIX, 1895, p. 758 (type, 



gilberti) . 



The dorsal granules are uniform. Superciliary and 

 sometimes supraocular plates are present. The interparie- 

 tal is separated from the frontal by the frontoparietal plates. 

 The pupil is vertically elliptic. There are two or three 

 transverse gular folds, the last edged with enlarged plates. 



Synopsis of Species 

 a. — One series of small plates (superciliarics) over eye. 

 b. — Ventral plates in twelve longitudinal series. 

 c. — A single frontal, eye large. 



X. vigilis. — p. +77. 



