22 



aquatic JLitt 



inches, they are of a light brownish-olive 

 with darker sides and reddish head. The 

 blue of the tail has vanished. The males 

 "fade out" at about six inches in the 

 same manner as the females, until the en- 

 tire lizard is pale olive-brown with a 

 brilliant vermillion head. 



The size of the eggs and young varies 

 with the size and age of the female. I 

 have collected females in Florida that 

 measured but four inches which, after a 

 few days of captivity, deposited from 

 three to eight eggs, each measuring 5-16 

 of an inch in length. The baby lizards 

 that hatched from these eggs were i l / 8 

 inches long. The largest female, seven 

 inches long, coiled about seven eggs, each 

 measuring 11-16 inch, or double the 

 length of the preceding, was taken from 

 a hollow log partly filled with pulp and 

 dead leaves, in July, 19 12. The lot was 

 taken home, put in a large vivarium in a 

 sunny window, and after about two 

 weeks seven young slinks, i l / 2 inches 

 long, were darting about among the ferns 

 and moss. 



My collecting station was a small 

 shanty near the edge of a bayou or cy- 

 press swamp, built on piles about four 

 feet off the ground. A family of "Blue- 

 tails" made their home underneath the 

 flooring, and on days when I did not go 

 collecting, but sat writing or reading, 

 three or four of them would emerge, shy 

 at first, but soon becoming bolder, darting 

 about the floor playing tag and hunting 

 flies. When I looked up from my work, 

 they would stop where they happened to 

 be, instantly on the alert, and if I re- 

 mained quiet, would soon continue in 

 their activities. A movement of foot or 

 shifting of legs on my part sent the lot 

 scampering for cover. After about a 

 month they became so bold as to run over 

 my feet and climb up on my cot. At 

 first very shy and wild, they soon become 



so tame in captivity that especially the 

 larger ones will take grasshoppers and 

 beetle larvae from one's fingers. 



They require a fairly large terrarium 

 as they exercise freely, especially on 

 sunny days, and the males often indulge 

 in fights. They rush at one another with 

 mouth wide open, endeavoring to secure 

 a good hold on limb or tail. Their jaws 

 are strong and the grip powerful, so that 

 sometimes a limb and often part of the 

 tail is twisted off in these combats. The 

 loss of limb is, of course, permanent, but 

 the tail is regenerated, though never to 

 its full length and beauty. Otherwise 

 these seemingly frightful injuries do not 

 apparently incommode the victim very 

 much, except to send him hiding for a 

 day or two. 



The food consists of insects, their larvae, 

 small crustaceans, spiders, and, with the 

 big Red-heads, also mice and probably 

 young birds. They certainly are canni- 

 bals, as I have seen them devour small 

 specimens of their own kind, and one 

 large male ate a big spiny swift, Scelo- 

 porus undulatus, fully six inches long. 

 This male was the biggest of his kind I 

 ever saw, measuring io^4 inches in 

 length, the body i$/\ inches in diameter 

 at the thickest part. 



The Blue-tailed Skink is never found 

 far from water, usually along the edges 

 of brooks, creeks and bayous, wherever 

 deciduous trees and shrubs abound. Here 

 among vine and creeper-clad stumps, 

 ferns and mosses, he hunts during the 

 cooler hours of daylight, basks in the sun 

 at midday, and retires at dusk to some 

 knothole, usually well up a big Live Oak, 

 Sweet Gum or other such tree. 



In winter many specimens can be col- 

 lected by stripping the bark and digging 

 into the pulpy interior of dead standing 

 timber near water-courses. There the 

 species will be found in all color phases, 



