REPTILES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 107 



Riverside (San Jacinto, Riverside), and San Diego 

 (Carlsbad, Cuyamaca Mountains) Counties, California, 

 and Douglass (Drain) County, Oregon. It seems to be 

 most abundant in the chaparral country, but is by no 

 means confined to this belt. 



Habits. This large and elegantly marked species is 

 rather slow of movement, but its sluggishness is largely 

 due to its lack of timidity, for, if thoroughly frightened, 

 it sometimes runs with great swiftness. It is usually to 

 be seen on the ground, but frequently climbs through 

 the bushes. At such times its long prehensile tail must 

 be very useful. Its food is made up chiefly of insects, 

 such as beetles and flies. Like the following species 

 (G. burnettii), the Alligator Lizard is' ovoviviparous. 

 Messrs. Doane and Ely brought me a pair which they 

 found mating in a bush near Palo Alto, May 12, 1894. 

 This lizard sometimes bites fiercely when caught, but, 

 like all Californian reptiles excepting the rattlesnakes, is 

 not poisonous. 



29. Gerrhonotus burnettii Gray. BURNETT'S ALLIGATOR 

 LIZARD. 



? Gerrhonotus cceruleus, WIEGM., Isis, 1828, p. 380 (type locality 

 "Brazil"*); WIEGM., Herp. Mex., 1834, pp. 29, 31; BOCOURT, 

 Miss. Sci. au Mex., Kept., 1878, p. 353, pi. XXIc, figs. 3, 3a; 

 BOULENGER, Cat. Liz. Brit. Mus., II, 1885, p. 273 (part). 



Gerrhonotus burnettii, GRAY, "Griff. An. King., IX., Synop. Kept., 

 1831, p. 64" (type locality "South America"); GRAY, Ann. 

 Mag. Nat. Hist., I, 1838, p. 390; GRAY, Beechey's Voy., Zool., 

 1839, p. 96, pi. XXXI, fig. 2; GRAY, Cat. Liz. Brit. Mus., 1845, 

 p. 54; O'SHAUGHNESSY, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), XII, 1873, p. 

 47; BOCOURT, Miss. Sci. au Mex., Kept., 1878, p. 356, XXIc, figs. 

 4, 4a; STEJNEGER, N. A. Fauna, No. 7, 1893, p. 197. 



Bocourt quotes from Peters (Miss. Sci. au Mex., 5e liv., p. 355): "Ce Gerrhonote a ete 

 rapporte par M. Chamisso, que a fait des collections sur les cdtes occidentales des deux 

 Ameriques, aussi se pourrait-il qu'il ait ete recneilli en Californie, d'ou ce voyageur a 

 rapporte divers objets d'histoire naturelle." 



