no. 2078. REPTILES OF NORTHWESTERN NEVADA— RICHARDSON. 411 



salmon-red spot on the gular region. The blue ventral patch charac- 

 teristic of the adult male is entirely lacking and the black triangular- 

 shaped bars are merely suggested. The latter are, however, more 

 pronounced than in the adult female. The dorsal black markings are 

 heavier than in the adult male or female. The color of the young 

 female is like that of the adult female, except for the presence of 

 darker markings on the dorsal surface and the absence of the salmon- 

 red gular spot. 



Locality. — CaUisaurus v. myurus was collected at the Pyramid 

 Lake Indian Agency, along the southwestern shore of Pyramid 

 Lake as far as The Willows, and at Derby and Wadsworth, on the 

 Truckee River. It has been recorded before in the Lahontan Basin 

 from the vicinity of Pyramid Lake. 



Cope (1883, p. 18) states that he saw a species of Holbrookia 

 "north of Pyramid Lake, but it was so swift that I did not succeed 

 in catching a specimen." He collected in this region "during the 

 hot weather of July, 1882," and probably mistook the abundant 

 CaUisaurus for it. At least it seems fair to take this view, since 

 no specimens of the closely allied genus HoTbrookia were obtained 

 by Cope at the time, and his observation has not been corroborated. 



Habits. — In our experience this lizard was the most conspicuous 

 and the most abundant saurian in the localities mentioned. It 

 occurred in greatest numbers on the sandy desert among low-growing 

 shrubs. It was never seen in the denser growths of Artemisia tri- 

 dentata or on rocky hillsides. Like CaUisaurus ventralis, it is very 

 fleet of foot, often running a hundred feet or more when frightened. 

 It seldom runs straight ahead of the intruder, but describes an arc 

 to the right or left. When in rapid motion, the tail was observed 

 raised considerably above the level of the body, but never "curled 

 up over the back," as has been described for C. ventralis (Stejneger, 

 1893, p. 171). Several times the tail was seen curled over the back, 

 but always when the lizard was moving very slowly. During a light 

 thunder shower many of these lizards buried themselves in the loose 

 desert sand, where they remained until almost trodden on before 

 showing themselves. 



An individual wounded by Professor Snyder uttered a high-pitched 

 cry when handled, which, he says, was very suggestive of the note 

 of certain Hawaiian geckos. 



Examination of 7 stomachs indicated that the food of myurus 

 consisted of both animal and vegetable matter, the latter absent 

 from only 2 stomachs. The vegetable content usually consisted 

 of bits of green leaves, although small purple flowers were found in 

 1 stomach. The identified insects were wasps and grasshoppers. 

 Some spiders were also found, and larvae of many kinds were present. 



