116 ON THE BATRACHIA AND REPTILIA OF COSTA RICA. 



Four supraorbitals, second large. Interparietal longer than wide, separating the 

 wide, undivided parietals. Two transverse narrow occipitals. Nuchal scales equal 

 those of the body, which are in twenty-seven rows. Preanal scales three, large 

 and subequal; subcaudal scales small except where reproduced, when they are 

 transverse and narrow. When the limbs are appressed to the sides the ends of the 

 toes mark the middles of the fingers. 



Color above, sap-green shaded with brown, below leek-green. A light blue 

 band from the lip to the groin; a pale shade from the eyebrow to above the femur, 

 brown bordered above. From the low country. 



The large preanal scuta and long muzzle distinguish this species from the M. 

 cepedei. 



39. Mabuia cepedei, Gray; Cope, Proceedings Academy Phila., 1862, p. 186. 

 With twenty-eight rows of scales. From below Sipurio. 



40. Chalcidolepis metallicus, Cope ; gen. et spec. nov. Ecpleopidarum. 



Char. Gen. — Dorsal scales smooth, in uninterrupted transverse annuli round the 

 body, the size subequal on the various regions, including the nuchal and gular. 

 Toes 5-5, all clawed. Superior head shields ; interfrontonasal, two prefrontals, a 

 frontal, two frontoparietals, two parietals separated by an interparietal. Tympa- 

 num distinct ; nostril in the single nasal plate. No femoral pores. Teeth com 

 pressed, with a principal cusp and a denticle on each side. 



This genus is one of the Ecpleopidce, but presents a manifest resemblance to the 

 Chalcididce in its squamation. The absence of the lateral band of small scales, and 

 continuity of the transverse series across the median line of the back, distinguish 

 it from certain genera of the family, and the uniform character of the squamation 

 of the neck and body distinguishes it from others. 



Char. Specif. — A slender lizard with very long tail and feeble limbs. The head 

 is narrowed and acute in front, with produced rostral shield. The interfrontonasal 

 plate is as wide as long, and the frontal elongate. There are four supraorbitals on 

 each side. The interparietal is elongate and with parallel sutures with the larger 

 parietals. The latter are bounded externally by a large temporal, forming with 

 them a diagonal suture. These are all bounded posteriorly by a series of four 

 shields across the occiput, and these again by a transverse series of seven scales 

 larger than those of the nape which follow them. The nasal plate is followed by 

 a large loreal, and this by a smaller preocular. Seven superior labials ; their rela- 

 tive lengths, beginning with the shortest, are, 5-7-6-2-1-3-4:. Two pairs of infra- 

 labial scuta are in contact on the median gular region, of which the posterior pair 



