ART. 12 EEVISIOlSr or LIZAEDS of genus CTENOSAURA BAILEY 35 



and will lie basking in the hot sunshine. When discovered they 

 scamper away among the rocks, but never take refuge among the 

 shrubs, bushes, or low trees as does the same species farther north- 

 ward. They are common about the old sea wall at Old Panama, about 

 the rip rap falls near La Boca, at the Pacific entrance to the canal, 

 and at Punta Bruja, a few miles to the westward. This species is 

 never quite as numerous in Panama as just back of the beach at 

 Tela, Honduras, where many may be seen at almost any tune. Here 

 they may be caught by the dozens in steel traps baited with a hybiscus 

 flower. 



J. E. Gray described Ctenosaura similis from a dried skin belong- 

 ing to a Mr. Bell of London.^^ The description, which was published 

 in 1831, is given here "in toto": 



Allied Iguana, Iguana {Ctenosaura) similis. 



Grey, black dotted, body with four oblique dark bands; occiput forming a 

 concave band behind; dorsal crest low but continued over the sacrum. Teeth 

 blunt, three lobed; palatines on two raised lines on each side. Head 2 body 9 

 inches. Mus. Bell. 



This type, a mounted skin, was formerly in the private museum 

 of a Mr. Bell of London, but subsequently disappeared. A careful 

 search among the specimens and records at the British Museum 

 fail to give any clue as to its whereabouts. 



Weigmann,^^ in 1834, and Fitzinger,^* in 1843, listed this species 

 as Cyclura similis. They did not see the specimen but merely 

 adopted Gray's specific name of similis. 



Bocourt,^^ in 1874, described this species as Ctenosaura completa 

 from two adult male specimens and three young collected in ''Guate- 

 mala and Salvador," by himself in 1872. 



The next mention of similis and completa was by Boulenger,^^ in 

 1885, at which time he listed both, along with many others, as syno- 

 nyms of Ctenosaura acanthura. From that time on similis has been 

 overlooked entirely, but its synonym, completa, was recognized as a 

 distinct species by Cope" in 1886, and since then has enjoyed 

 that distinction, being mentioned as such as recently as 1921 by 

 Barbour.^^ 



It is indeed unfortunate that this oversight has existed for so long 

 a time, and I take this opportunitj^ to restore the original name of 

 Ctenosaura similis to this species. 



"Gray, Griff. Cuv. Animal Kingdom, vol. 9, Synopsis p. 38, 1831. 



" Weigmann, Herpt. Mex., p. 42, 1834. 



" Fitzinger, Syst. Kept., p. 56, 1843. 



2«Bocourt, Miss. Sci. Mex., vol. 3, Reptiles, p. 145, 1874. 



28 Boulenger, Cat. Lizards Brit. Mus., vol. 2, p. 197, 1885. 



"Cope, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, vol. 23, pp. 266-269, 1886. 



"Barbour, Proc. New Eng. Zool. Club, vol. 8, p. 82, 1921. 



