-------------------+-----+--------+----+-----+------+--------------+------------- In tracing the gradual ontogenetic changes in the striped pattern, from the vividly contrasting colors of hatchlings to the dull, patternless coloration of old adult males, five descriptive terms have been applied to the successive stages: "sharp," "distinct," "dull," "faint," and "absent." To most individuals below minimum adult size, the term "sharp" is applicable, although there is some loss in vividness in the larger young, as compared with hatchlings. Fading of the original striped pattern proceeds more rapidly on the head than on the body. Upon emergence from their second hibernation at an age of about 21 months, the skinks, mostly grown to adult size, and ready to mature sexually, still show but little sexual difference. They retain the hatchling pattern essentially unchanged, but with colors dulled and contrasts reduced. Within a few weeks the newly matured males undergo relatively rapid color change as the breeding season progresses. The stripes tend to fade and blend into the dark areas adjacent to them. In the two-year-old males stripes are distinct to dull on the body and faint or absent on the head, while in females of the same age group, body stripes are sharp or distinct. Table 13 refers to adult pattern and coloration as they appear in the breeding season. After the breeding season, in late spring and early summer, when the red suffusion of the head and neck has faded in adult males, the original striped pattern, after having been almost completely suppressed may again become discernible. Individuals of the same size differ in extent of pattern change, and the color descriptions made of individuals were not sufficiently detailed to show fully the changes occurring between successive dates of capture. However, most large adult males taken later than mid-June had at least some trace of the striped body pattern and many of them had become so much like females in appearance that close scrutiny was necessary to determine their sex. They were especially like females in having the dark lateral area extending forward onto the cheek and setting it off sharply from the paler temporal region above it. In breeding males the head has no such dark markings and is suffused with red. GROWTH AND REGENERATION OF THE TAIL