294 ZOOLOGY. 



9 



Found on the edges of the prairies and in the more open portions of the forests. It appears 

 to choose the neighborhood of rotten logs. It is quite active, running and dodging about as 

 nimbly as a squirrel. S. 



SCELOPORUS GRACIOSUS, Baird & Girard. 



The Slender Fence Lizard. 



S.graciosus, B. & G. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil. VI, Apr. 1852, p. 69. IB. Ex. to Great Salt Lake, 1852, p. 346; 



pi. v, fig. 1. 

 S.gracilis, B. & G. Proc. Acad. Sc. Phil. 1852, p. 175. GIRARD, Herpet. U. S. Expl. Exp. 1858, p. 386; pi. xx, 



fig. 1-9. 



Sp. CH. Cephalic plates smooth; anterior parietal larger than vertex plate; middle occipital very large, pentagonal. Post- 

 anal scales large, sub-lanceolate, smooth, posteriorly notched . Posterior surface of thighs covered with small, rounded, smooth 

 scales. Olivaceous above, with a double series of crescent-shaped black spots on the back and two lateral light streaks, between 

 which is a row of black spots. Beneath yellowish; under surface of head clouded with bluish. Male with an elongated blue 

 patch on each side of the abdomen . 



Found at the Dalles, Oregon Territory, or at Steilacoom. At Fort Dalles they live in the 

 cracks of the basaltic rocks, which their colors resemble in tint, being darker than those at 

 Steilacoom. They usually emerge from their hybernation about the middle of March. S. 



CROTAPHYTUS WISLIZBNII, Baird & Girard. 



C. wislizenii, B. & G. Pr. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila. VI, Apr. 1852, p. 69. IB. Ex. to Great Salt Lake, 1852, p 340;pl.iii. 



C. gambelii, B. & G. Pr. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila. VI, 1852, p. 126. 



C.fasciatus, HALLOWELL, Pr. Acad. Nat. Sc. VI, 1852, p 207. IB. Sitgreaves Ex. to Zufii, 1853, p. 115; pi. V. 



SP. CH. Head proportionally narrow and elongated. Cephalic plates and scales on the back very small. Yellowish brown, 

 spotted all over with small patches of deep brown or black, becoming partial or complete rings on the tail. 



Found at the Dalles, Oregon Territory, and up Snake river, near Fort Boise. S. 



TAPAYA DOUGLASSIL Girard. 



The Oregon Horned Toad. 



Jlgama dovglassii, BELL, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, XVI, 1833, 105; pi. x. HARLAN, Med. & Phys. Researches, 



1835, 141, fig. 3. 

 Phrynosoma douglassii, WAGL. Natural Syst. Amph. 1820, 146. HOLBROOK, N. A. Herpet. II, 1842, 101; pi. xiv. 



GIRARD, Stansbury s Ex. to Salt Lake, 1852, 361 and 362; pi. vii, figs. 6-10. 

 Tapaya dovglassii, GIRARD, U. S. Expl. Exp. Herpet, 397; pi. xxi, figs. 1-5. 



Sp. CH. Head large, depressed; vertex slightly declivous; snout sub-convex or rounded, sub-depressed at the nostrils. 

 Cephalic plates moderate, very rugose, occipital and temporal spines reduced to small acerated cones. Sub-maxillar shields 

 moderate and ridged. Auricular aperture granular, sub-tubercular, or sub denticulated in front. Labial plates moderate. 

 Mental scales small and unequal; gular folds minutely scaly. Abdominal scales moderate, sub-rhomboid, posteriorly obtuse. 

 Femoral pores distant; the series from either side approximating upon the inter- femoral region without being continuous. 



I obtained numerous specimens of this singular animal in the vicinity of the Yakima river, 

 in August, and saw them as far as latitude 48 30 north, on the open plains, usually among 

 rocks and sand. They all had the gray color which they retain in alcohol, excepting one, 

 which was of a brick red on the back, but beneath white like the rest. These colors resemble 

 those of the stones among which they live, and it is supposed by some that they have the 

 power of changing their hue like the chameleon, and like the better known tree toad of the 

 Atlantic States. Though ferocious in appearance they are perfectly harmless; yet the Indians 

 believe them to have the power of producing a poisonous wound with their blunt spines, and 

 it is possible that such a wound, if made, might sometimes be troublesome. They do not 

 attempt to bite, and are so slow in motion as scarcely to get out of the way. They are, no 



