PLATE 2
Fig. 1. Old adult male, year-old young and hatchling in July, showing differences in size and pattern.
Fig. 2. Adult female skink in a natural nest, with her clutch of eggs late in incubation. The nest cavity is excavated in loose soil beneath a flat rock, which was raised momentarily to expose the nest to view.
Fig. 3. The same female and nest, with eggs in process of hatching.
Noble and Bradley (1933:77) mention frequent homosexual matings between captive males. However, I observed no homosexual matings, either under natural conditions or in confinement. The pugnacious behavior of males that are in breeding condition ordinarily would prevent homosexual mating. Males in such weakened condition as to be unable to defend themselves effectively might evoke sexual attack, instead of the usual fighting response in other males. Although no actual experiments were performed in the present study in connection with the courtship and mating behavior, accounts of some workers seem misleading. My own observations indicate that the capacity for sex discrimination in this particular kind of lizard, and probably in others, has been underrated. For example, it has been stated that the male rushes with open mouth at the neck of any other skink that happens to be around, and he identifies it as a male if it fights back, or as a female if it does not. On the contrary my observations indicate that sex recognition occurs almost as soon as the male is aware of another skink’s presence. The red head of the breeding male is an excellent example of a social releaser in the sense that this term was used by Tinbergen (1948:8). Like the red belly of the breeding male stickleback, it facilitates sex recognition and evokes hostile behavior on the part of other males. Courtship, mating, and fighting reactions however, seem to be evoked by the interaction of a complex of social releasers. Whereas males and females are strikingly different in appearance in the breeding season, visual sex recognition is complicated by ontogenetic changes. The body stripes characteristic of the female pattern, become dull or even disappear in some old females, which then approximate the typical male pattern. On the other hand newly matured males in their first breeding season retain distinct body stripes of the female pattern. Their sex is evidenced mainly by their reddish facial suffusion, which is not quite so extensively developed as it is in older individuals. Also, in these newly matured males the temporal region is not so swollen as it is in old males.