NOTES ON A SPECIMEN OF ALEPISAURUS ^SCU- 

 LAPIUS BEAN, FROM THE COAST OF SAN LUIS 

 OBISPO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. 



BY FLORA HARTLEY. 



[ With Plate ii. ] 



The valuable specimen here described and figured was 

 found on the coast of San Luis Obispo county, Cal., by 

 W. P. Stevens, on September 19, 1894, having been 

 thrown on the beach by the waves. It was presented by 

 Mr. Stevens to the California Academy of Sciences. 

 The specimen agrees in most particulars with Dr. Bean's 

 original description of Alepidosaurus cesculapius (Proc. U. 

 S. Nat. Mus. 1882, p. 661). The following descriptive 

 notes contain the principal points wherein our specimen 

 differs from the type, and present some additional details: 



Head in body ^% times; width of head in length of 

 head 4; height of head in length of head a little over 

 2;. eye in head 6; interorbital area wider than diameter 

 of eye; eye in snout 2]4 . Top of head with two prom- 

 inent, sharp, bony ridges, that run from the tip of the 

 snout to behind the eye. On the parietals striee radiate 

 from this ridge toward the median line and outward to- 

 ward the eye. Just behind the orbit, and parallel with it, 

 is a series of six small blunt spines. 



Opercle with strong stri^ radiating from the upper an- 

 terior angle ; subopercle nearly as large as opercle and 

 strongly striate, the striee radiating from the anterior lower 

 articulation; a thin membrane connects the opercle and 

 subopercle ; mandible with strong longitudinal striations 

 and many mucous pores. 



Outer row of teeth in upper jaw short and very sharp, 

 increasing in length anteriorly. No teeth in the extreme 

 front of upper jaw, but two small decurved teeth on each 

 side of tip of jaw. Palatine teeth arranged in three groups. 



2d Seb., Vol. V ( 4 ) May 21, 1895. 



