48 BRITISH LIZARDS 



red in the male, with conspicuous black spots ; yellow 

 or pale orange in the female, either without or with 

 scanty black spots. The newly-born specimens are 

 almost black. The males are slightly smaller than 

 the females ; males of a total length of 6 inches, and 

 females 7 inches long, may be considered rather large 

 specimens." ^ It is important to remember that the 

 viviparous lizard is smaller than the sand lizard. 

 Much confusion seems to prevail amongst field 

 naturalists about the two species, and the sand lizard 

 is constantly being reported from new localities, in 

 Scotland for example, in mistake for the common vivi- 

 parous lizard. The absolutely distinctive characters 

 are few, but most specimens are clearly defined by 

 their colours. If the distribution be compared, it will 

 be at once noted that the sand lizard is very local and 

 comparatively rare. In the common lizard no teeth 

 are to be found on the palate bone, and in normal 

 specimens there is a single post-nasal shield, and a 

 single anterior loreal shield. The scales covering 

 the dorsal surface are elongated and hexagonal, and 

 indistinctly keeled as compared with those of the 

 sand lizard. The general shape of the head is more 

 flattened than in the rare species, and the snout more 

 pointed. The ventral scales are arranged in from six 

 to eight longitudinal rows : the marginal rows being 

 the smallest ; " the second series on each side from the 

 median ventral line," the largest.^ In these and other 



^ Gadow, Amphibia and Reptiles, p. 553. 



