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Mexican Beaded Lizard — "escorpion" — Part 2
Dimensions.—Total Length . . . . . 18 inches.
Distribution.—Northern Mexico and southwestern Texas; New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, eastern California and Lower California. Occurs most commonly in sub-arid regions and in the deserts.
Distribution.—Apparently a rare lizard. Several examples have been taken in Texas, between Antonio and El Paso. A variety is recorded from Lower California.
Colouration.—Brown, or olive, with six sharply defined yellow stripes; these are persistent through life. Young individuals are simply striped; as they grow older, a row of pale dots appears in each of the dark areas between the stripes; throat of the male, black.
Dimensions.—Ten to twelve inches.
Distribution.—The form described is found in central and western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. It is an abundant reptile.
Colouration.—Dark brown, with six bright yellow stripes, beginning at the head and running to the base of the tail, where they become less distinct, though the stripes of the sides may continue on the tail for about one-fifth its length. On the centre of the back, is a broad, pale brownish band, extending from behind the head to the base of the tail; it is about an eight of an inch wide on a mature specimen.
Dimensions.—Total Length . . . . . 9 3/4 inches.
Distribution.—Extends over a large area. Found along the Atlantic Coast from Delaware, southward throughout Florida; westward to California. In the Central Region, it extends as far north as northern Nebraska.
Colouration.—Dark brown, with six pale lines; a central, clay-coloured band of same width as top of head. Abdomen white, or suffused with blue.
Dimensions.—Six to eight inches.
Distribution.—Cerros Island, off coast of Lower California.
Distribution.—Lower California and Mexico.
Distribution.—Southern North America; South America; southeastern Europe; Asia Minor and Africa.
In form, this heavy-bodied lizard is very similar to the preceding species, though the tail is considerably longer in proportion to the creature's length.
With young individuals the tail is broadly and vividly ringed with yellow, a character that appears to give way with maturity to narrow and broken rings. Young specimens are jet black, with vivid yellow markings. The older specimens show a brownish body colour, while the yellow is rather dull and not sharply defined on many. Although the writer has examined over fifty specimens of this species before compiling this description he has not noted a suggestion of the peculiar pinkish shades so often seen with the Gila Monster.
Total Length . . . . . 26 1/2 inches.
Length of Tail(the proportionately long tail.) . . . . . 12 1/4 inches.
Width of Head . . . . . 2 3/8 inches.
From these dimensions, the proportionately much longer tail of this species than with the preceding one may be appreciated.
A Small Family of Diminutive Lizards--Five Species Inhabit South-western North America
Classification and Distribution.--The Family Xantusiida is a small one, comprising three genera and a total number of seven species. Lepidophyma contains a single, Central American species; Cricosaura is also composed of one species, which inhabits Cuba; Xantusia contains five species--all inhabiting California and Lower California. The family is most nearly allied to the Old World Lacertidae.
The North American species are diminutive, with rather cylindrical body and very short limbs. On the back and sides the scales are fine and granular; the abdomen is covered with plates; on the tail the scalation is in fine rings.
The top of the head is covered with large, symmetrical shields. There are three folds of skin on the throat. The species have no eye-lids and with most of them the eye is very large; all have a vertical (cat-like) pupil. The habit of frequently changing colour has been noted among these lizards; this is mainly influenced by light and temperature.
The species of Xantusia inhabit barren or desert regions. They are nocturnal in habits.
Key to the Species
1. Limbs very short.
a. Length about 3 1/2 inches.
Eyes large. Pale brown, speckled with dark brown.
XANTUS'S LIZARD, X. vigilis.
Eye small. Dark clay color, with black specks.
A yellowish band on each side of back.
GILBERT'S LIZARD, X. gilberti.
b. Length about 5 inches.
Eye large. Blackish brown, irregularly marbled with cream-coloured lines.
HENSHAW'S LIZARD, X. henshawi.
II. Limbs proportionately longer.
Eye large. Pale brown; two rows of large, pale-edged brown spots. COPE'S LIZARD, X. picta.
c. Length about 7 inches.
Eye large. Gray or brown, dotted with black.
RIVERS' LIZARD, X. riversiana.
Mr. John J. Van Denburgh has added valuable information to the previous scanty descriptions of these lizards and their habits. In the following detailed list, the writer has drawn freely from Mr. Van Denburgh's paper on the genus. (Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., Ser. 2, Vol. X.)
Xantus's Lizard, Xantusia vigilis, Baird. This is the smallest species. Together with the three succeeding species, it shows a single row of small plates directly over the eye. The remaining species, X. riversiana, has two rows of these scales.
The plates of the abdomen are in twelve (longitudinal) series.