480 7. XANTUS1IDJE 



In Nevada, it has been taken in Pahrump Valley. 



In northern Lower California, Heller found it at San 

 Matias Pass, and the National Museum has it from San 

 Felipe Bay. 



Habits. About a mile from the station at Mohave there 

 is a considerable forest of Yucca arborescens. The many 

 trees and wind-broken branches, which lie decaying on the 

 ground, afford a home to numerous colonies of white ants, 

 scorpions, vicious looking black spiders, and several species 

 of beetles. In a deep crack of one of these branches a 

 small lizard was discovered, which when caught, proved 

 to be a young Xantusm vigilis. Probably it had not yet 

 j earned how to hide from the day, for I have never seen 

 another undisturbed individual. 



The key to their home once discovered, the collection 

 of a large series of these lizards was merely a matter of 

 physical exertion. Every fourth or fifth stem that was ex- 

 amined gave up its Xantusia, and in one instance five, as 

 many as were previously known to collections, were found 

 under a single tree. 



Most of the lizards were found between the bark and 

 the ground, but many had hidden in the thick clusters of 

 dead leaves, from which it was very difficult to dislodge 

 them. When first exposed to the light, they were dark 

 colored, and seemed dazzled for a moment, during which 

 they made no attempt to escape. They were not at all 

 sluggish, however, and, if not caught immediately, made 

 for the nearest cover as fast as their very short legs would 

 permit. This cover was often the collector, and the little 

 lizards either hid under his shoes, or climbed his legs, some- 

 times even reaching his shoulders. They showed no desire 

 to enter the numerous holes in the ground about them, or to 

 escape by burrowing. Put into a glass bottle they became 



