OCR Text |
Show 344 APPENDIX C.- REPTILES. The colour, according to a drawing made from life by an artist of great merit, Mr. William H. Tappan, while on the River Platte in 1848, is olivaceous brown, slightly violaceous on the sides of the head. On each side of the body there are two, sometimes three oblong spots, of a deep black; and on the body two rows of quite large, irregular blackish- brown patches, with a band of a lighter colour between each row. There is an indication of a third row of these patches, less apparent, however, in the male, in which again we find two orange- red lines, the uppermost extending to the end of the snout in passing over the eye; the other follows the lower jaw. In advance of the eyes the orange hue of these lines passes into brighter yellow. This species inhabits the valley of the Platte River, as collected there by W. H. Tappan. We have received several specimens from Texas, collected by General Churchill, one of which is the original from which the accompanying drawings have been made. The individual represented i& a female. Genus UTA, Baird and Girard. GIN. CHAR.- Upper part of body covered with minute scales; a pectoral fold; auditory apertures ; femoral pores, but no anal ones. The genus which we now establish will not fail to attract the attention of herpetologists, having a relation to both Seeloporus and Holbrookia. The former genus it resembles in having the upper surface of the head covered with similar scales, and in being provided with auditory apertures. On the other hand, the body is covered with scales, like those in Holbrookia, while on the tail they are much large than in any of the above genera, thus contrasting greatly with those of the back. The genus Uta, moreover, has a subgular fold of skin, constituting a neck- ring similar to that in Holbrookia. Its elongated tail would recall to mind the genus Oro-taphytus, were not the palatine teeth absent. Femoral pores exist, while anal ones are wanting. Besides the species described below, this genus embraces two others, one of which is entirely new to science, and was sent in by Colonel J. D. Graham from the boundary- line, and which we call Uta ornata; while the other was described as a Seeloporus, and first as a mere variety of S. grammicu%, afterward, however, separated under the specific name of S. microlepidotui* The minuteness of |