84 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



he be friend or foe. Clinging to the rough bark of a 

 tree or the lichen-painted surface of some old fence, it 

 rapidly raises and lowers its head and body, often at- 

 tracting attention to itself where the harmony of color- 

 ing would prevent its being noticed if motionless. It 

 is rarely seen in open fields, preferring wooded districts 

 or areas where rocks abound. 



21. Sceloporus magister Hallowell. SCALY LIZARD. 



Sceloporus magister,* HALLOW., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1854, 

 p. 93 (type locality near Fort Yuma, California); and U. S. 

 Pac. R. R. Surv. Rept., X, pt. IV, 1859, p. 5; STEJNEGEB, N. A. 

 Fauna, No. 7, 1893, p. 178, pi. I, figs. 2a-2c. 



Description, Head and body little depressed. Nasal 

 opening slightly nearer to end of snout than to orbit. 

 Upper head-plates smooth, often a little convex, and 

 usually slightly imbricate; interparietal largest. Frontal 

 divided transversely. Parietal and (usually) fronto- 

 parietal plates not separated |rom large supraoculars. 

 Latter very broad, as also the strongly imbricate 

 superciliaries. Middle subocular very long, narrow, and 

 strongly keeled. Rostral plate wider than high. Labials 

 long but very low, inferior larger than superior. Sym- 

 physeal large, followed by several plates larger than 

 gulars and separated from lower labials by from one to 

 three rows of narrow sublabials. Gular region with 

 scales smooth, flat, bicuspid, and strongly imbricate, as 

 also belly. Ear-opening large, nearly vertical, and pro- 

 tected by a series of very long accuminate scales. Back 

 with equal-sized, rather weakly keeled, but strongly 

 pointed, scales arranged in nearly parallel longitudinal 

 rows. Scales of sides pointed obliquely upward and 

 changing gradually from carinate dorsals to smaller 

 smooth ventrals. No longitudinal dermal folds. Upper 



*This species was long confused with S. clarkii, which is not Californian. 



