Abstract
The term lizards is used throughout this paper to include all Recent Anguidae with four well-developed limbs and a lateral fold. Thus defined, it constitutes a distinctly delimited assemblage of somewhat over forty forms, ranging from British Columbia to Panama. It is largely for the sake of a convenient name to designate this group that the term lizards or Gerrhonotinae is used. Whether or not the group actually deserves subfamily status can be determined only by a comparative study of greater scope than is feasible for the present writer to undertake at this time. Ophisaurus among modern genera and Peltosaurus and Melanosaurus among the fossil forms show rather close affinities to the gerrhonotine group, but I have not considered them in the present discussion. This paper deals only with the generic relationships within the group. A discussion of relationships at lower levels, and descriptions of individual forms, are reserved for treatment elsewhere.
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