Contriliutions to the Fannn of the Bahamas 



33 



Anolis puichellus, Duméril & Bibron. 

 Erpét. gen., vol. 6, p. 97. 



Stejneger mentions (18) a specimen in the U. S. Nat. Mus., labelled »Nassau, 

 New Providence», which seems to belong to this species. He thinks it is possibly 

 due to an accidental misplacement of a specimen, and does not make any further 

 reference to it. This species can therefore not be considered to occur in the 

 Bahamas. 



Anolis sagrae, Coct. 

 DuMÉBiL ET BiBBON. Erpét. Géu. Vol. 4, p. 149. 



Syn. A. ordinatus. Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sei. Philadelphia, 1864, p. 175. 

 Fig. 9—11. 



The type specimens for Dumeril's and Bibron's description of A. sagrne are 

 from Cuba, those of Cope's A. ordinatus from »West Indies», no other locality 

 given. There has been a great controversy about the distinctness of these Iwo 

 species. Boxjlenger after having examined them both, declared the two species to 

 be identical. In his Catalogue (3; vol. II, p. 40) he therefore refers A. ordmat us 

 Cope as a synonym to A. sagrae. Later on Cope described both species from the 

 Bahamas (10, 11), A. sagrae from New Providence, Abaco, Eleuthera, A. nrdiimttis 

 from Turk's Isl., still maintaining the distinctness of the two species. The two 

 species have also been recorded from other places m the West Indies (from the 

 Bahamas also on Cat Isl. and Rum Key), as well as from Central and South 

 America. Carman (14, p. 47) and Stejneger (18, p. 334) consider the two species 

 distinct, both referring the Bahama form to A. ordinatus, the Cuba-form to A. sagrae. 

 The specimens from Turk's Island described by Copk Stejneger believes to be 

 another species, separated from botli A. sagrae and A. ordinatus. During ui}' stay 

 on Andros and New Providence, I had during a whole yeai" many opportunities of 

 studying these lizards in a living state. Afterwards, trough the kindness of Dr. G. 

 BoTTLENGER, I got Opportunity to examine several specimens in the Brit. Nat. Hist. 

 Mus. from many different localities. The result of these studies is that I consider 

 it quite certain that A. sagrae and A. ordinatus are identical. They represent, as 

 far as I have found, only two different stages of age, A. sagrae the younger, A. 

 ordinatus the older specimens. There is no difference in squamation between them, 

 except that in the larger specimens there is a feeble nucho-dorsal fold and that 

 the tail is very strongly compressed. In the larger specimens the gular appendage 

 is also much larger. The following description of the squamation applies to all the 

 specimens I have collected on Andros and New Providence, as far as it is possible 

 to give a description of an Anolis that shall have general application, and it seems 

 to be the same for the specimens from other localities I have seen. 



Forehead very slightly concave. Upper head-scales polygonal, sharply keeled 

 some with two or three keeles, not regularly arranged. Head-ridges ver}'- low, 

 involving three large scales on each side. Supraorbital semicircles in contact bet- 



Lnnds Umv:s Årsskrift. N. F. Afd. Bd 7. 5 



