78 CALIFORNIA ACADEM^ij OF SCIENCES. 



keeled scales. Ventral scales much smaller than dorsals, 

 smooth, imbricate, and usually bicuspid. Tail furnished 

 with irregular whorls of strongly keeled and pointed 

 scales, much larger and rougher above than below. 

 Femoral pores varying in number from thirteen to twenty 

 011 each thigh. Seven to twelve dorsal scales equaling 

 length of shielded part of head. Number of scales in 

 a row from the interparietal plate to a line connecting 

 posterior surfaces of thighs varying from thirty-five to 

 forty-six; average in thirty specimens, forty-one and 

 eight-tenths. Males with enlarged postanal plates. 



The color above is grayish, brownish, or olive, usually 

 with one series of crescent-shaped or triangular brown 

 spots, edged posteriorly with pale blue or green, on each 

 side. A paler longitudinal band usually separates the 

 dorsal and lateral regions. The sides are brownish or 

 buffy, mottled with darker brown and dotted with green 

 or pale blue. Narrow brown lines cross the head, but 

 are more or less interrupted. A brown line connects 

 the orbit and upper corner of the ear and is continued 

 backward on the neck. A large blue patch on each side 

 of the belly is usually bordered internally by a black 

 band of varying width. The throat is white, more or 

 less dotted or suffused with slate or black, and with or 

 without a blue patch on each side. In highly colored 

 males the black bands of the belly meet medially and 

 the throat is intensely black with large round blue 

 patches, which sometimes merge on the median line. 

 The chest is white or yellowish, often dotted or suffused 

 with black. The preanal region and the lower surfaces 

 of the limbs are white, sometimes dotted or tinged with 

 slaty-black. The posterior surfaces of the limbs are 

 yellowish, deepest on the thighs, along the back of 

 which runs a dark line. In young, and some females, 



