OCR Text |
Show APPENDIX C.- BBPTILKB. 883 broad, arranged in annufar rows, or eke verticillated and slightly carinated., The tail is cylindrical, and two and a- half times the* length of the- body and head together: it* tapets gradually and terminates in a point* The groundcolour appears to have been bhush yellow, marked with irregular patches of black. In some specimens,, four longitudinal yellow stripes may be seen extending from the occiput to the base of the tail, and dccasionally to a little distance on the latter. In the young state, the black patches predominate, unite, and form, as it were, the ground colour, and. the yellow constitutes irregular small spots, . A series of individuals of different sixes were collected by Gapt. Stansbury in the valley of the1 Great Salt Lake. Genus CBOTAPKYTUS, Holbrooke tar. C* A*.- Head coYtred with small and polygonal plates: fh* occipital proper, mnmte. Teeth on the jaWa, pterygoids and palatines* rudimentary ea\ the latter. Bated auditory, apextarft, Femotal poree; present; no anal ones. Tail very long: Of the - genua Crrtaphgtui, a typical form peculiar to North.- America, but one single species has hitherto been discovered, the€ L collari*, observed for the first time by Major Long's party, on their* expedition* to the Rocky, Mountains. The discovery of a second: species of this. genus within the limits of the United States: will for received with interest: both of these have a very close generic relationship, . the differences being found in some minor details of their structure; The generic characters are the following;- The occipital region, vertex, and front are covered with small and* polygonal plates, On the superciliary region and around the nostrils the plate © are scarcely larger than the scales of the back.; Th* odd occipital plates are inconspicuous, bcitig but Xfirj little larger than the surrounding ones. The auditory apertures are broadly open* Teeth* exist on the mamillaries, palatines, and pterygoids;, conical, acute, and slightly curved on the anterior: part of the jaws, they ate bom-pressed and tricuspid on the posterior; The palatine teeth are rudimentary. The skin is folded under the throat. The scales of' the upper part of the body are polygonal, and smaller than, those of the lower pat t, or belly, and tail; those- under the head have-nearly the ake of those of the back*. The femoral pores aria very |