532 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



the two median ones of the posterior series being largest. 

 The conical tail is somewhat depressed at its base and is 

 covered with whorls of smooth scales, which are very 

 narrow and transversely convex. Eight or ten femoral 

 pores form a series along each thigh. 



The ground color above is broccoli brown. On this 

 are numerous large irregular rounded blotches of very 

 dark seal brown, between which run more or less con- 

 tinuous lines of pale yellow. The upper surfaces of the 

 limbs and head are similarly, but less distinctly, marked. 

 The tail is yellow with irregular blotches and half rings 

 of blackish seal brown. The lower surfaces are uniform 

 yellowish white. 



mm. mm. mm- 



Sn out to vent 65 63 57 



Tail 83 69 66 



Hind limb — 27 26 



Fore limb — 16 10 



Shielded part of head 13 14 12J 



Snout to ear — 13 12 



Snout to anterior gular fold — 13 12 



Snout to posterior fold — 21 20 



Base of fifth to end of fourth toe — 10 9| 



Distribution. — Xanttisia henshawi has been found only 

 at Witch Creek, San Diego County, California. This 

 locality is in the chaparral belt, at an " altitude of about 

 2,700 feet." 



Habits. — Here this species lives among the numerous 

 granite boulders, and comes out into the narrower crevices 

 between them a few minutes before dark. It is, there- 

 fore, practicable to hunt for it only about fifteen or twenty 

 minutes each day. If a bit of string or a straw be intro- 

 duced into the domain of one of these lizards it will often 

 be seized, the reptile apparently mistaking it for some stray 

 insect. 



