LIZARDS.: 423 



movement of the persons around them with glittering eyes, ready to spring upon an- 

 intruder without warning. They clung tenaciously to a stick or the finger, in which 

 they might fix their teeth, and suffered themselves to be suspended in this manner for 

 some time before relinquishing hold. 'Now and then they seemed to have a fit of 

 ungovernable rage, during which they leaped aimlessly about, and tugged persistently 

 at the cord. They refused to eat, apparently from pure chagrin, and all died within 

 a few days." C. wislizenii, inhabiting the country further west to the Pacific, and 

 south into Mexico, is closely allied. It probably lives on smaller lizards, as a species 

 of Cnemidophorus has been dissected from the stomach of one. C. reticulatus in- 

 habits western Texas. I learn through Dr. Yarrow that both species of Crotapliytus 

 are eagerly sought after by the lower classes of Indians of western Utah and eastern 

 Nevada. To capture them the Indians employ a long switch anned at one end with a 

 hook, which is generally made from a bent nail or piece of wire. With this instru- 

 ment the lizards are drawn from their burrows and then tied up with other unfortunates. 

 In the National Museum are several of these hooked sticks, some of which are from 

 the Apaches of New Mexico. 



Uma has the ears distinct ; the palate without teeth ; the infraorbital plate very 



Fig. 244. — Crotaphytus vnslizenii. 



long; the imbricate labials oblique, and the claws long, slender, and straight. U. 

 notata is of a light pea-green color above, spotted with darker green, and beneath 

 white. It is a small form, the body being about two inches in length, in rare cases 

 found in the Mohave desert. Sauromalus ater, the alderman-lizard, though rare in 

 collections, abounds on Angel Island, in the Gulf of California. It is a large and 

 stout animal, sometimes exceeding a foot in length. The head is nearly as broad as it 

 is long, and the tail does not equal the body in length. Though the young are quite 

 gayly ornamented, the adults are of a reddish dirt-color. Callisaurus dracontoides is 

 represented by three varieties, which are known respectively as the Californian 

 dragon, inhabiting southern Lower California; the spotted-tailed dragon, found 

 around Sonora ; and Gabb's dragon, which inhabits the northern portions of Lower 

 California. The ear openings prevent the members of this genus from being con- 

 founded with those of the next. 



The genus Holbrookia was dedicated to the American herpetologist, Dr. J. E. Hol- 

 brook, in 1850, by Girard, and includes a small lizard of most interesting struc- 

 ture, though of only ordinary aspect. Its resemblance to Crotaphytus is destroyed 



