ART. 12 REVISION OF LIZARDS OF GENUS CTENOSAURA BAILEY 13 



A few color descriptions representing the observations of different 

 students on various sized specimens, under different conditions, may 

 be of interest, hence the following notes: 



Shaw in his original description of Ctenosaura (Lacerta) acanthura, 

 based upon an alcoholic specimen, which was not more than half grown, 

 says:^ "Upper part glaucous, variegated with a few small and some- 

 what indistinct clouds and marblings of a whitish cast. The tail and 

 underparts are of a pale or yellowish color." 



Harlan, who in 1824 described and figured Ctenosaura (Cyclura) 

 teres* from a living specimen in the Museum of the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Science, gives us this description: " Color of this 

 species dark green, on some parts of his back brilliant or glistening." 

 Although there is no record of this specimen ever having been pre- 

 served, the description together with the splendid illustration of the 

 specimen leaves no doubt as to its identity with Ctenosaura acanthura. 



In writing of the color of the young of this species Wiegmann ^ says: 

 ''The color of the upper parts in this young specimen is a splendid 

 yellowish green intermingled with bluish green and cloudy black-brown 

 cross spots; three brown cross stripes go over the cheeks to the ear; 

 the legs are sprinkled with numerous spots and the tail is ringed with 

 brown. But this uncommon, beautiful coloring seems to disappear 

 with advancing age." He also says concerning older specimen that 

 "A somewhat larger example shows faded bluish-green, or rather a 

 green and blue glittering gray sprinkled with numberless black dots. 

 Upon them no traces of other marks are left visible." 



Cope,^ who described Ctenosaura multispinis, a synonym of acan- 

 thura, from a full-grown male, says: "Color above and below black." 

 The writer examined this type of multispinis, which is a stuffed skin, 

 and found it to be a true acanthura and that the underparts showed 

 indistinct whitish markings, just as do most of the larger specimen. 

 Gunther^ says : 



The coloration varies and changes with age. The ground color of the young 

 is generally green, marbled with darker on the back, the dark markings forming 

 more or less distinct, irregular cross bands, which are sometimes confluent, some- 

 times spotted with black, and about seven or eight in number on the back. With 

 age the dark color becomes more diffused and irregularly distributed over the body, 

 at places entirely suppressing the ground color, which itself assumes a more 

 olive tinge or changes into j^ellowish. Specimens from Tampico are uniform 

 black when adult, and of a greenish-olive when young. 



Remar'ks. — Original^ Ctenosaura acanthura was described by Shaw 

 in 1802 from a half-grown female specimen, the date and place of 

 collection and the name of the collector being unknown. 



2 Shaw, George. General Zoology, vol. 8, part 1, p. 216, 1802. 



< Harlan, R. Journ. Acad. Nat. Scl. Philadelphia, vol. 4. pp. 242-251, pi. 26, 1824. 



» Wiegmann, V. J. Oken's Isis., p. 371, 1828. 



«Cope, E. D. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. Phila., vol. 23, p. 267, 1886. 



" Gunther, A. C. L. G. Biol. Cent. Amer. Rept. Batr., p. 57, 1890. 



