526 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 12 



flatten themselves against a limb lengthwise, keeping on the side away 

 from the intruder, their wiry tails stretched out stiffly in line with the 

 body. "When alarmed while on the ground they make for the nearest 

 bush and jump up into it, there to dodge actively about among the 

 branches, quite unlike their brown-shouldered relatives which usually 

 retreat beneath stones or into holes when pursued. The species under 

 discussion appears to be active at least till dark in the evening, and 

 early in the morning, as well as in the middle of the day. 



A pair was seen copulating on July 13, in the hottest time of the 

 day. The two lizards were clinging to the inclined branch of a creo- 

 sote bush and the female was colored for the occasion, being light 

 orange with two longitudinal black stripes down the sides and a row of 

 black lozenges down the center of the back. The male was grayish 

 over the back and yellowish on the sides. The power of color change 

 in these lizards is greater and more rapid than in any other Cali- 

 fornia)] reptile. A nearly white male held in my hand changed rapid- 

 ly in two or three minutes to yellowish with black cross bands on the 

 back, the originally light greenish ventral patches became blue, and 

 a yellow spot appeared under the throat. 



I saw a female of this species swallow a large-winged insect it had 

 picked up from the sand. The stomach of a male contained chewed 

 plant stems and what appeared to be the broken shells of insect eggs. 

 An elongate, white, tick-like parasite was seen affixed head downwards 

 in the axilla of a long-tailed swift. 



Sceloporus magister Hallowell 

 Rough-scaled Lizard 



Five specimens (nos. 5475-5479) of this brilliantly colored lizard 

 were taken. Four are males and one is a female. The femoral pores 

 number 13 in five thighs, 14 in two, and 15 in three ; being J 15 right : 

 15 left once, J 1 15:14, J* 14:13, <$ 13:13 twice. The pores are small in 

 the female and greatly enlarged in the males. The anterior auricular 

 denticulations are long and tapering. 



The coloration of the adult males varies a good deal, and this varia- 

 tion is especially noticeable in the vivid ventral colors. One male has 

 the neck band pure black, the throat patch Olympic blue of the sheen 

 of porcelain, the darkest belly scales urania blue of a porcelain cast, 

 and the scales laterally on the ventral patch variscite green to Blanc's 

 blue. Many of the scales along the sides of the body are edged with 



