SCINCUSFASCIATUS. 49 



fasciata lacerta carolinensis hinc non multum abludit;" and in this he has been 

 followed by most Naturalists, as Latreille, Daudin, &c., with the exception of Shaw. 



That they are distinct animals, I believe; for 



1. Their whole colour is different. In the Scincus quinquelineatus the head is 

 always red; the body olive, tinged with green; the tail dusky; while in the Scincus 

 fasciatus the head and body are bluish-black; the six lines about the head and 

 five of the body are constant, and the tail always a beautiful ultra-marine blue: nor 

 is this colour the result of injury, as some have supposed, for the colour is the 

 more brilliant the younger the animal, as I have seen in hundreds of instances. 



2. The geographical distribution of animals would, if it were properly known, 

 go far in determining the identity of species; thus the Scincus quinquelineatus is 

 a southern animal, and has never yet been found, as far as I know, north of 

 Virginia, though abundant in the Carolinas, Georgia, and the more southern and 

 western states, as Ohio and Missouri; while the Scincus fasciatus inhabits the 

 Atlantic states from New York to Florida, but has not yet been found west of the 

 Alleghany mountains. 



Vol. III.— 7 



