Lacerta. REPTILES. SAURIA. 151 



Length about 6 inches. Head triangular, depressed, with large scales, 

 one on each side, forming eye-brows. Snout rounded. Jaws equal, teeth 

 recurved. Toes slender. A row of tubercles along the inside of each 

 thigh. Throat with a double collar of large scales. The scales of the 

 belly quadrangular, and placed in transverse bands. Tail twice the length 

 of the body. Belly yellowish. Colours vary with the condition of the 

 cuticle which is frequently renewed. Before casting, the colours are 

 brownish black ; after they change, dark green and yellow tints prevail. 

 This species becomes torpid during winter, and pairs after reviviscence. 

 Eggs placed at the bottom of a wall facing the south, where they are hatched 

 hy the heat of the sun. It is sometimes ovoviviparous. In 1803 I kept a 

 female of this species for two months, until it died in September, after giving 

 birth to four young ones, perfectly formed, and measuring an inch and a half 

 in length. Food consists of worms and insects, which it never seizes but 

 when by motion they exhibit signs of life. Easily tamed. Irritated when 

 touched on the jaw or throat. Tail brittle, and frequently broken off, but 

 readily reproduced. 



Ray mentions the following varieties : 



" 1. Terrestris vulgaris venire nigro maculato. 2. Terrestris anguiformis in 

 ericetis. 3. Parvus terrestris fuscus opido rarus. 4. Lacertus terrestris luteus 

 squamosus Anglieus, Plot. Hist. Staff. 252. 5. Lacertus aquaticus fuscus niger." 

 The history of these varieties is still involved in obscurity. 



Mr Sheppard, in the seventh volume of the Linn. Trans, p. 49., seems to 

 have exalted the varieties of this animal into distinct species, chiefly from 

 characters depending on the colours of its different parts. In so obscure a 

 department of the British Fauna, it is possible that our opinion may not he 

 well founded. The descriptions which he has given, here subjoined, will en- 

 able the student to decide for himself! 



" 1. L. ag'dis. Scaly or Swift Lizard — Head, upper part, light brown, 

 with a few black spots. Back, ground colour light brown ; a line of irregu- 

 lar black spots along the middle ; next to this, a stripe, spotted alternately 

 with black and white ; then succeeds a broad dark brown one, with a line of 

 black, and white spots in it : all these lines extend from the head to the end 

 of the tail. Belly, in some, of a dull white ; in others, a bright yellow. 

 Tail, on the under part, dirty-white, beautifully mottled with black spots ; 

 the latter, however, in some specimens, are wanting. Legs, light brown 

 above, spotted with white on the sides, and beneath of the same colour as the 

 behy. Feet, both fore and hind, have five toes on each, furnished with nails. 

 Length 6i inches. 



" 2. L. osdura. Swelled-tailed Lizard. — Head, upper part, dark brown, 

 with a few black spots ; under part, dull white, mottled with black. Back, 

 on the middle, a black list, on each side of that a broad brown one, with a 

 line of black spots in it ; then a narrow stripe of alternate yellow and brown 

 spots ; beneath this, a broad, brownish-black stripe, with a'line of yellow 

 spots in it : these lines all end about half an inch beyond the hind legs. 

 Sides finely mottled with black and white. Belly of a beautiful orange (in 

 some yellow, in others dirty-white), spotted with black. Tail bulging out a 

 little below the base (where the lines down the back terminate), which gives 

 it the appearance of having been cut off and set on again : this is of a light 

 ash-colour, with a few long'black marks at the end, and a large red mark on 

 the under part at the base ; the latter, however, varies according to the co- 

 lour of the belly. Legs light brown above, black and white on the sides, and 

 beneath, red, yellow or dull white (according to the belly), variegated with 

 black spots. Feet have all five toes, with nails. Length 4| inches. — This 

 species I have at different times found in vast abundance ; yet, not having 

 seen it described in any of the books I have access to, I have ventured to 

 call it a new species, under the name, expressive of its conformation, of 

 fEdura or Swelled-taiL" 



