i8 



Lizards are more cosmopolitan than snakes and are 

 found on many islands from which snakes are absent. 

 They first appeared in the Jurassic period. 



At present the entire number known probably reaches 

 2,000. The classification of lizards is based on skeletal and 

 lingual features. Boulenger 1 arranges them into two sub- 

 orders and twenty-one families. All True Lizards belong to 

 one suborder, the Chameleons forming the second. Our 

 local species belong to three families ; two species are 

 positively known, the other is of doubtful occurrence. 



Family Scincidse. Skinks. 



Tongue covered with imbricate, scale-like papillae; tem- 

 poral fossse roofed over by bone ; head regularly shielded ; 

 scales smooth, underlaid by bony plates ; body fusiform 

 or subcylindric ; nasal plate single, ungrooved, the nostril 

 in the centre ; head usually without posterior vertical plate. 

 A cosmopolitan family with over 200 species. 



Eumeces fasciatus (L.). 

 Blue-tail. Scorpion. 



This species has two supra-nasal plates ; a large ear, the 

 front edge of which is toothed. It has teeth on the palate 

 and is quite a hard biter when carelessly handled. It grows 

 to a length of 8 to 11 inches ; its color is quite variable, 

 but generally dark olive, with five yellowish streaks, the 

 middle one of which forks on the head ; the tail is bright 

 blue, but in older specimens it becomes reddish, as well as 

 the body and head, while the stripes become very dull 

 or disappear. Older specimens often are called Red-heads, 

 but that name applies more properly to a distinct species 

 of the Southern States. 



This lizard is quite common throughout the United 

 States east of the Rocky Mountains. In our vicinity it is 

 not frequently seen, though by no means so very rare. It 



■ Catalogue of Lizards in the British Museum. Vol. I., London 1885. 



