71 



SCIN CVS.—Daudin. 



Genus Scmcus. — Characters. Head oblong, pointed, covered with plates; 

 jaws furnished with closely set teeth; two rows of teeth on the palate; tongue 

 fleshy, slightly extensible, emarginate; tympanum apparent; neck as large as the 

 head; body elongated; tail conical; the whole body and tail covered with small 

 imbricated scales; extremities with free and unguiculated toes. 



SCINCUS LATERALIS.— %. 



Plate VIII. 



Characters. Head short; body elongated; tail very long and cylindrical; whole 

 superior surface of the head, body, and tail, chestnut colour; inferior surface of 

 the neck silvery white; abdomen yellow; tail blue; a lateral line of black from the 

 snout to near the extremity of the tail. 



Synontmes. Scincus lateralis, Say, Long's Exped. to Rocky Mountains, vol. ii. p. 324. 

 Scincus unicolor, Harlan, Jour. Acad. Nat. Scien., vol. v. p. 156. 

 Scincus lateralis, Harlan, Jour. Acad. Nat. Scien., vol. vi. p. 12. 

 Ground Lizard, Vulgo. 



Description. The head is short, about the size of the neck and body; the snout 

 somewhat pointed; the vertical plates are three in number, the first one acute 

 posteriorly; the nostrils are lateral, and placed very near the snout; the eyes, 



