( 74 ) 



4. Lacerta ocellata Pand. (I'l. 1. fi-. •^, and I'l. 11. li-. l). 



Nine specimens from Imintanont, and one from the Tamaruth Valley. 



From Morocco, this species has only been reported from the nei^hlionrliood of 

 Tangier, and the specimens were referred by me to a distinct form named var. 

 tanffitiina, distingnished from the Algerian-Tunisian L. jmter by a combination of 

 characters : smaller occipital, smaller or more nnmerons dorsal grannies, fewer rows 

 of ventral plate.«, and more numerous femoral pores. The /.. jintcr itself conld 

 only be distingnished from tlie typical European /,. oi'dUitu by a combination 

 of characters, every one of which, taken singly, proved to be inconstant. The 

 specimens collected by Mr. Riggenbach in the Morocco Atlas appear to me to 

 dispose entirely of jirevions attempts at defining geographical races in this species. 

 As will be seen by the following tabulation of characters, the specimens agree with 

 the typical form and L. pater in the number of granules across the middle of the 

 body, and witli the lizard described as var. faniiifdim in the number {<\ or S) of longi- 

 tudinal rows of ventral plates, and in the number (10 to 22) of femoral pores.* In 

 some specimens the dorsal grannies are very distinctly keeled, in others they are 

 perfectly smooth ; and whilst in one specimen the occipital shield is not broader 

 than the interparietal, in five out often it is actually broader than the frontal. 



Ill the following tabulation of characters of the ten specimens in Mr. Higgen- 

 bach's collection, column 1 gives the number of dorsal scales across the middle 

 of the body, 2 the number of longitudinal rows of ventral plates, 3 the number of 

 transverse rows of ventral plates, 4 the number of gnlar scales on the median line 

 between the chin-shields and tlie collar-plates, 5 the number of femoral jiores (right 

 and left), the greatest width (in millimetres) of the frontal shield, 7 the greatest 

 width of the inter])arietal shield, and S the greatest width of the occipital shield. 



The coloration varies much. The young are marked with white, black-edged 

 ocelli, which persist more or less in females and half-grown males, whilst they nearly 

 entirely disappear on the body of adult males, which are uniformly speckled and 

 vermiculatcd with black. One of the female sjjccimens, figured on PI. II., is 



* 1 Imvo px.imined a fjrc.at number of .'^pet-iniens from Algeria aiifl Tunisiji, including thuso descrilH'd 

 by I.atas(e as Ij.jmli-r, and tiiid the femoral pores to vary between 12 and 1(1 ; whilst T tind 17 to 21 in 

 the 12 .ipccimens from Tangier and Tlenisen (I'rov. Oran), which are referred to my vnr. tainiitiinn. 

 Werner. Vcrh. Zonl. hot. (iiv. Wini, 1894, p. SI. found l-i to 17 pores in IS speiiniens from Algeria 

 (Lambesa, Pliilippeville, Tiatna, Honay According to ¥. Doumergue {Essal xiir la Fiiiinc hrrpetiilngique do 

 VOranie, 1901, p. 121), the number of femoral pores would not be a safe character for defining races of 

 this species, as he finds tliem to vary, in indi\iduals fr<.)m the province of Oran, between i;* and 20 ; U 

 to K, is the number ascertained by me in the European specimens. 



