10. The preanal scales, as already stated, may be not enlarged, moderately enlarged, or twice as long as those preceding them. This is true in both A. pulchra and A. nigra.
11. The length of the tail is subject to so much variation that it cannot be regarded as furnishing a good specific character. The longest ones I have seen are one-third the total length in A. nigra and two-fifths in A. pulchra.
12. This is the coloration of some specimens of A. pulchra.
It will be seen that, with one exception, all of the characters of Anniella texana have been found in specimens of A. pulchra and A. nigra either as the normal condition or as individual variations. The single exception is the complete division of the frontoparietal plate—a condition which is manifestly anomalous, since this plate has been found partially divided in other specimens. It is evident therefore that Anniella texana must stand as a synonym of A. pulchra Gray.
Anniella texana being thus disposed of, one is tempted to treat A. nigra in the same way, regarding it as based merely upon melanistic individuals of A. pulchra. This view we certainly should have to adopt if both dark and light colored specimens occurred in the same localities, but I believe this has not yet been shown to be the case. Fischer, to be sure, states that the type of A. nigra came from San Diego, where A. pulchra is especially abundant, but it is quite possible that his specimen did not really originate there. All of the dark specimens I have seen, have been secured on the coast of Monterey County; and, aside from Fischer's, I know of no records of the black Anniella from any other locality, except Cope's[18] reference to specimens from San Francisco. Aside from the type locality, then, it would seem that the dark form has a very limited range, being confined to the southern part of the Pacific Fauna of the Transition Zone.
In a large series of alcoholic specimens from the coast of Monterey County, I find very few showing a style of coloration similar to that of A. pulchra. A specimen from San Ardo, in the interior of this county, is typical of A. pulchra, but San Ardo is in the Upper Austral Zone. Not more than four or five of the fifty-four specimens from the coast zone could be in the least confusing, and all of these are more deeply pigmented above than is any example of A. pulchra before me. Forty-eight of these specimens were sent me alive, and in that condition exhibited a greater range of coloration than they show since preservation in alcohol, which seems to have intensified their dark pigmentation while dissolving the beautiful yellow of their lower surfaces. When the living lizards were received from Carmel and Point Pinos, they were divided into ten groups according to the intensity of the dorsal pigmentation, and measurements were taken of each specimen in each group. These grades of pigmentation of the living specimens, with measurements in millimeters from snout to anus and anus to tip of tail, are as follows:
1. Entire upper surface (ten, twelve, or fourteen rows of scales) and ventral surface of tip of tail very dark Indian purple. Chin and throat lighter Indian purple. More or less suffusion with Indian purple about anus. Rest of lower surfaces and sides bright gamboge yellow with chromium green staining near center of belly. Mouth flesh-color. Labials and temporals minutely dotted with iridescent greenish, silvery, or bronze. Eye black with bronze or silvery markings.
| 153 | 15 | Lateral line present | No dorsal line |
| 150 | 73 | Lateral line | Trace dorsal line |
| 150 | 70 | Lateral line | Trace dorsal line |
| 150 | 38 | Lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 147 | 40 | No lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 146 | 75 | No lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 146 | 25 | Lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 145 | 70 | Trace lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 143 | 17 | Trace lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 140 | 68 | Lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 140 | 50 | Lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 138 | 32 | Faint trace lateral lines | No dorsal line |
| 137 | 68 | Lateral line | Trace dorsal line |
| 137 | 47 | Lateral line | Trace dorsal line |
| 136 | 45 | Lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 135 | 65 | Lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 135 | 53 | Trace lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 134 | 65 | Lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 133 | 60 | Lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 132 | 63 | Lateral line | Trace dorsal line |
| 131 | 50 | Lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 131 | 16 | Lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 130 | 34 | Lateral line | No dorsal line |
2. Dark hair-brown above; bright gamboge below; chin Indian purple.
| 146 | 70 | Lateral line | No dorsal line |
| 131 | 20 | Two lateral lines | Trace dorsal line |