viii PREFACE 



iiected to them, and also should have a clear idea of 

 all that is involved in the study of one group, whether 

 he intends to study all aspects or not. I have there- 

 fore included, in a modified form, the Introduction 

 which I wrote for the series of articles on " British 

 Field Zoology " now appearing in The Field NoMiralisfs 

 Quarterly. It forms the first chapter of this book. 

 For the same reason the special subjects towards the 

 end of Part I. of the volume are dealt with, as it 

 seemed to me that any description of our lizards 

 would be incomplete without them. One or two 

 matters, such as Hibernation and Sloughing, which 

 were fully described in my book on the snakes, are 

 now touched upon more briefly. 



The great majority of the illustrations are by Mr. 

 Douglas English, taken from living lizards by the 

 " control method." One or two are from photographs 

 of my own ; and that of the female slow-woi^m and 

 her young is by Eev. Cornish Watkins. This latter 

 appeared in The Field Naturalist's Quarterly for August 

 1902. The diagrams I am personally responsible for. 

 The outline drawings of the heads of the various 

 species have been drawn for this work by Dr. 0. 

 Charnock Bradley, F.RS.R, to whom I am much 

 indebted. I have also to thank G. A. Boulenger, 

 F.Pi.S., for his ever-ready advice and much valuable 

 assistance. 



The chapter on the anatomy of a lizard is based 

 upon the description given in Professor Parker's 



