650 REPTILES—SCINCIDA. 
Lacertide has Xantusia vigilis in California; Chalcide has Brachypus cuviert in British 
Columbia; Anguidée, one species, Ophisaurus ventralis ; Zonuride, twe genera, Gerrhonotus 
and Barissa, the former with six, the latter with a single species, olivacea, which range 
from Texas to California. None of the preceding families occur in the State, but the 
Iguanide and Scincide are represented in our limits. 
FAMILY SCINCIDA. THE SKINKS. 
Body lacertiloid ; dorsal and ventral region covered with similar imbricated scales, 
quincuncially arranged; head subtriangular, tapering gradually into the neck; back 
rounded, without crest or spines; tongue fleshy, squamous, flat, emarginate, and free 
anteriorly; cephalic plates present; nostril opening into a solitary nasal; prefrontal 
single; temporal fossa arched ; premaxillaries two; mesosternum cruciform ; feet four, 
well developed. 
* Supranasals none; lower eyelid with a transparent disk. . . . LYGOSOMA. 
* Supranasals a pair; lower eyelid scaly. j ‘ } 5 : EUMECES. 
GENUS EUMECES. Wiegmann. 
Head short, approximately cuneiform ; nasal plates one on each side, just behind the 
rostral; a small pair of supranasals just above; superciliaries above each eye four; 
occipitals five ; post-frontals two; vertical pentagonal; teeth in both jaws in a marginal 
row ; anterior margin of ear dentate; both eyelids scaly ; scales smooth and imbricated ; 
toes five on each foot, distinct and provided with claws; tail long, conical, and covered 
with scales similar to the body. 
EKUMECES QUINQUELINEATUS Linnezeus. 
Biune-tailed Skink. i 
Lacerta fasciata, LINNZUS, SHAW, LATREILLE. 
Lacerta quinquelineata, LINNZUS, GMELIN, GREEN, SAY, 
Scincus tristatus, DAUDIN. 
Scincus quinquelineatus, SCHNEIDER, LATREILLE, DAUDIN, KUHL, MERREM, HARLAN, 
SCHLEGEL. 
Scincus bicolor, HARLAN, CUVIER. 
Euprepis tristatus, WAGLER. 
Tiliqua bicolor, GRAY. 
Scincus fasciatus, HOLBROOK, STORER, DEKay. 
Plestiodon quinquelineatum, DUMERIL and BIBRON, GUNTHER. 
Color bluish-black above with five yellow lines, the vertebral one of which bifurcates 
on the head, giving off a branch to the right, and another to the left side of the ver- 
tical plate; both branches extend to the nostrils where they unite with the nearest 
lateral lines; the lower lateral line passes from the snout through the auditory opening 
just above the limbs to the tail; all these lines become indistinct on the caudal ex- 
tremity, and all disappear with age; abdomen light-bluish; extremities brownish 
above, bluish or light colored beneath; throat and gular region creamy white; tail 
deep blue; toes long, ‘\nteriorly the second and third of equal length, and posteriorly the 
second the longest; nostrils small and situated near the muzzle; scales of the body and 
limbs imbricated, and plates on the head well developed ; supranasals and post-frontals 
