32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Material examined. — 



VOL. 73 



CTENOSAURA SIMILIS (Gray) 



Plates 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 



Iguana {Ctenosaura) similis Gray, 1831, Griff. Cuv. Animal Kingdom, vol. 9, 



Synopsis, p. 38. 

 Cyclura (Ctenosaura) similis Wiegmann, 1834, Herpet. Mex., p. 42. — Fitzinger, 



1843, Syst. Rept., p. 56. 

 Ctenosaura completa Bocourt, 1874, Miss. Sci. Mex., vol. 3, Reptiles, p. 145. — 



Cope, 1886, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, vol. 23, pp. 266-269.— Gunther, 1890, 



Biol. Cent. Amer., Rept. Batr., p. 58, pi. 29.— Cope, 1900, Rept. U. S. Nat. Mus. 



for 1898, p. 238.— Barbotjr, 1921, Proc. New Engl. Zool. Club, vol. 7, p. 82. 

 Ctenosaura acanthura Boulenger, 1885 (Part Group C), Cat. Lizards Brit. Mus., 



vol. 2, 197. 



Type. — Museum of Mr. Bell, London, England. 



Type locality. — Restricted to Tela, Honduras, Central America, 



Diagnosis. — Dorsal crest very pronounced, not interrupted at 

 sacrum, the continuity being effected by short lobes in adult male 

 and by compressed scales in females and young. Tail ringed about on 

 upper half with strong and very spinous scales, the first and second 

 (and occasionally the third) of these half rings are separated from 

 each other by three rows of small flat basal scales; subsequent whorls 

 of spinous scales up to the first third of tail's length by two such rows 

 of small scales; from this point the spinous scales continue without 

 interruption to distal end of tail. Body color chrome tint, with trunk 

 striped by five bands joining over stomach and united by numerous 

 spots of same color. In Ct. pectinata, with which this species is some- 

 times confused, the first five whorls of spinous scales on the tail are 

 separated from each other by three rows of small flat scales. 



Distribution. — This species occupies tjie lowlands of Central Amer- 

 ica and southern Mexico, and the sandy beaches of Panama. In 

 Mexico it occurs on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Yucatan 

 Peninsula. The type at the time the description was published was 

 in the personal museum of a Mr. Bell of London, but its present 

 whereabouts is unknown. Also the types of Ctenosaura completa, a 

 synonym oi similis, collected by Bocourt in 1872, bear no definite 



