1916 ] Camp: Amphibians and Reptiles 519 



One stomach was filled with a great number of ants. Another con- 

 tained two grasshoppers entire, one large hemipter, eight red ants, 

 two brown ants, two beetles, a pebble, and several pieces of vegetation. 

 Another held seven brown and seven red ants, one beetle, several para- 

 sitic nematodes, and two fresh leaves and the terminal bud of a plant- 

 One specimen when shot had a plant stem in its mouth. 



Callisaurus ventralis ventralis (Hallowell) 

 Gridiron-tailed Lizard 



Eighteen specimens of this abundant lizard were shot (nos. 5457- 

 5474). All have four dark patches on the belly, two on each side, and 

 are in other ways typical. The femoral pores are 12 in one thigh, 13 

 in one, 14 in four, 15 in six, 16 in six, 17 in eight, IS in five, and 19 

 in three; being J 1 , J 19 right 18 left twice, $ 18:18 once, ^ 17:19, ^ 

 17:18, J 17:16, J 17:15, J 1 16:17 twice, J 16:16, ? 16:14, ^ 15:17, 

 J 1 , ? 15:14 twice, J 1 14:15, $ 13:15, J 1 12:15 and J— .17. Among the 

 thirteen males five have large femoral pores, six have medium-sized 

 ones, and two have small ones. All the five females have small pores. 

 The males have large postanal scales, the females small ones. 



In the examples before me the color above grades from pale smoke 

 gray, with white on top of the head and white in spots down the back, 

 to neutral gray with the usual dark dorsal markings. A specimen 

 taken in the zone of drifting sand below Blythe Junction is the light- 

 est of the lot, and some taken upon a mesa covered with brown lava 

 are among the darkest of the specimens represented. It would appear 

 that in this lizard, as in Phrynosoma, the tone of color is changeable 

 in the individual to suit the surroundings. The throat is dusky in 

 some specimens and light in others. There is a reddish spot behind 

 the arm in the females. The females also all have pink sacs beneath 

 the throat which are not "inflated," but are sometimes drawn down 

 by muscles connected with the hyoid apparatus. The pink throat sacs 

 are present in only three of the males in the series at hand. The 

 underparts ( with the exception of the two black wedges and the blue 

 and green patches of the males) are white and not yellow as in speci- 

 mens taken at Barstow, farther west. The tail bands number 4 in one, 

 6 in three, 7 in three, and 8 in eleven specimens. The anterior three 

 or four of the ventral tail spots are sometimes entirely blue, and the 

 posterior bands are often margined with blue below. Several of the 

 largest males are nearly equal in length, but do not approach in size, 

 individuals collected at Barstow in March, 1914. In the largest sped- 



