336 APPENDIX C. — REPTILES. 



REPTILES. 



By spencer F. BAIRD and CHARLES GIRARD. 



SiREDON LICHENOIDES, Baird. 



Pl. I. 



Spec. char. — Body iiniform blackish brown, coyered all over with licheniform 

 patches of grayish yellow ; snout rounded ; tail compressed and lanceolated ; 

 toes broad and short. 



The addition of an authentic new species to the genus Siredon 

 will justly be considered as of great interest to herpetologists. 

 Two species are now clearly ascertained to exist ; perhaps a third, 

 if the one mentioned by Prof. Owen* be really such. It is not impro- 

 bable that many more exist, as we have accounts of many localities 

 of "fish with legs," in various parts of Mexico, New Mexico, and 

 Texas, although, as yet, we have been able to procure only these 

 two species. The possession of these, however, allows a comparison 

 of characters by which the absolute generic features of the group 

 can be better ascertained. 



The figures hitherto published of S. mexicanus, and the imper- 

 fect sketch of S. maculatus, are far from being satisfactory, and 

 do not allow any accm^ate comparison to be made of their specific 

 features. As these will have to be critically redrawn in order to 

 meet the wants of science, we have endeavoured to obtain, 

 and we hope with success, figures of S, lichenoides that will enable 

 future comparisons to be satisfactorily made. Our specimen is a 

 little more than six inches and a-half in length, the figures being 

 all of natural size. Whether this be the absolute size of the 

 species which it represents, we are unprepared to state. If such 

 was the case, it is considerably smaller than S. mexicanus. The 

 tail forms nearly the half of the entire length, and the head a little 

 less than the fifth of the same. 



The head is ovoidal, much broader than deep, and the snout 

 rounded, a character which at once will disthiguish our species 



* Annals and Magazine of Natural History, xiv; 1844, 23. 



