17. XANTUSIA 481 



very light colored in a few minutes, but began to turn dark 

 again immediately after sun down. Young were numerous 

 and remained dark longer than adults. Many fragments 

 of cast skins were found, but never a whole skin in one place. 

 The stomachs of several individuals contained the wings of 

 some small dipterous insect, the elytra of a little brown 

 beetle, and some small white bodies which resembled spider's 

 eggs. 



Several specimens were taken alive to Leland Stanford 

 Junior University, and kept for some months in a large 

 glass jar in which some fine sand and pieces of wood and 

 bark had been placed. At first, they ventured out from 

 their retreat only at dusk unless disturbed, but after a few 

 days they seemed to become more restless, and, urged per- 

 haps by hunger, showed themselves many times each day. 

 At night, when they were always more active, they often 

 climbed to the top of a piece of yucca stem placed upright 

 in the middle of their cage. No desire to burrow was ob- 

 served. All declined to show any interest in the small 

 beetles, and flies, both dead and living, which were placed 

 in the jar, and finally became greatly emaciated. 



Mohave was visited again in the fall of the following 

 year. The specimens were all caught alive and put into a 

 large glass bottle, but were soon killed by the heat, although 

 care was taken to keep them in the shade as much as possi- 

 ble. Count was kept as the lizards were put in the bottle, 

 and showed later that several more were taken out than had 

 been put in. This may have been due to a mistake in the 

 record, but was more probably caused by the birth of young 

 after capture. The adults were afterwards carefully ex- 

 amined and three were found to contain young, showing 

 that the species is ovoviviparous. One of the three con- 

 tains two foetuses, the others have one each. The foetal 

 specimens are about the size of the young found under the 



