ORDER II. 



SAUEJA. 



FAMILY. 

 SCINCOIDEA. 



SCINCUS. Daudin. 



Generic characters. Head oblong, pointed, covered with 

 plates ; jaws furnished with closely set teeth ; two rows of teeth 

 on the palate; tongue fleshy, slightly extensible, emarginate ; 

 tympanum apparent ; neck as large as the head ; body elon- 

 gated ; tail conical ; the whole body and tail covered with small 

 imbricated scales ; extremities icithfree and unginculated toes. 



S. fasciatus. Lin. The Blue-tailed Lizard. 



Shaw's Gen. Zoology, vol iii. pt. 1. p. 241. 

 Ilarlun's Med. and Thysic Res. p. 138. 

 N. A. Herpet. vol. iii. p. 45, et fig. 



The only specimen of this beautiful species I have known 

 to be found in New England, was captured in Barre, by Dr. 

 Joseph N. Bates of that place, and kindly loaned me to identify 

 and describe. He took it, he writes me. " in a mud hole ; it 

 evaded my attempts to capture it for some time on account of 

 its agility and cunning, and when captured made much resis- 

 tance with jaws, claws, &c." 



Length of the specimen five inches, elongated, covered 

 above with longitudinal rows of imbricated scales ; color above, 

 a deep shining black, with five longitudinal deep golden yel- 

 low lines ; abdomen, of a light yellow color ; tail, a deep 



