lOO CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Description of No. 1472. — The head is flattened, swollen 

 at temples, and with rounded snout. The nostrils are 

 large, superior, and a little nearer to the end of the snout 

 than to the orbit. The large ear opening has a very weak 

 anterior denticulation. The head scales are smooth, and 

 slightly convex anteriorly. The frontal is transversely 

 divided. The largest supraoculars are separated from 

 the frontals, frontoparietals, and parietals, by two series 

 of small plates. The interparietal is very large. There 

 are six superior and seven inferior labials to below the 

 middle of the orbit. Several series of enlarged sublabials 

 pass gradually into the granular gulars which are slightly 

 largest centrally. The first of the two strong gular folds 

 ends in a large pouch at each side. The second is con- 

 tinued as a flap in front of each arm, and is covered with 

 smooth flat plates the largest of which, at its edge, are 

 somewhat larger than the scales on the chest. The back 

 and sides are covered with small smooth round granules, 

 much larger medially than laterally. The tail, conical ex- 

 cept where depressed at its base, is covered with whorls 

 of weakly keeled scales, which are a little smaller than 

 those of the belly. The scales of the chest and belly are 

 smooth. Those on the limbs have distinct keels. Fem- 

 oral pores 17-19. 



Most of the large specimens have lost their original 

 tails, and are now provided with regrowths. The num- 

 ber of femoral pores varies from fifteen to twenty-one. 



There is considerable variation in the intensity, and 

 some in the distribution, of color in the large series at 

 hand, but the general pattern is the same in all the spec- 

 imens. Very young specimens are fully as brightly col- 

 ored as older ones, and females as brightly as males. 

 The largest specimens, however, appear somewhat duller 

 than others, especially on the posterior part of the back. 



