5 84 9. SCINCID.^ 



Mr. Edmund Heller secured the eggs of this lizard at 

 Pacific Grove, California. The five eggs were spherical and 

 of a blackish brown color, with soft flexible shells. They 

 were about the size of a Chipping Sparrow's egg (Spizella 

 socialls occideittaUs). He found them in an open field, 

 among a rock pile, under a flat rock. They were covered 

 with about half an inch of loose earth. The female was 

 found under the rock with them. The date was about June 

 15, 1898. The eggs were far advanced in incubation, the 

 embryos presenting nearly all the adult characteristic mark- 

 ings, coloration, etc. 



Remarks. — The skinks of the Sierra Nevada seem to 

 attain a greater size than is usual in those of other parts of 

 the state. They also commonly have red heads, a style of 

 coloration which is rare in other regions although shown to 

 some degree by an occasional specimen. These red-headed 

 Sierran skinks were described by me as Eumeces gilbertty 

 and it was stated that were it not for the different position 

 of the light stripes of the young and the fact that this form 

 seemingly does not occur in most parts of the range of P. 

 sk'tltomanus^ Plestiodon gilberti might be regarded as a color 

 phase of the Western Skink. Mr. Camp recently has shown 

 that there is no constant difference in the position of these 

 lines. It, therefore, seems necessary to regard all California 

 skinks as belonging to one species, although no explanation 

 has yet been given of the fact that this species in a portion of 

 its range (southern California and the Sierra Nevada) grows 

 much larger than elsewhere and develops a color phase — 

 sometimes even in the young — which in other regions seems 

 never to be fully shown. Under these circumstances, it seems 

 best to give separate descriptions of the two phases, although 

 but one name is used for both. The following description 

 is based upon specimens from the Yosemite Valley. 



