SCINCUS FASCIATUS. I3I 



Schneider appears to have been the first to consider these two animals as 

 nearly identical; for, in describing the Scincus quinquelineatus, he says: "Forte 

 Linnaei fasciata lacerta Carolinensis hinc non multum abludit;" and in this he has 

 been followed by most Naturalists, as Latreille, Daudin, Dumeril and Bibron, &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 

 pale red; the body olive, tinged with green, with a broad, black, lateral band; 

 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. And besides there is a difference of disposition of the plates and scales 

 under the tail in the two animals, as above described. 



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

 go far in determining the identity of species; thus the Scincus quinquehneatus 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, ascending high up the valley of the Mississippi; while the Scincus 

 fasciatus inhabits the Atlantic states from Maine to Florida; but I am not aware 

 that it exists west of the Mississippi. 



Nor am I yet prepared to believe with Temminck and Schlegel, that our Scincus 

 quinquelineatus is identical with a Japanese animal, though there may be a great 

 resemblance between them. Smiilar animals are frequently found within similar 

 parallels of latitude, or, it might rather be said, where the temperature is nearly 

 the same. Thus, in France and Germany are found the Common Toad, Bufo 



