84 



LACERTID.E. 



t. iii. p. 77, traditam noveram, (quasi res esset in om- 

 nibus lacertarum generibus constanter observata) lacertas ova, 

 eaque cute seu membrana vestita, magno numero excludere 

 solere ; cum autem neutiquam omnino vero sit simile, tarn 

 exiguo duorum dierum spatio, non ova tantum deponi, sed et 

 ipsas ex his excludi potuisse lacertulas, non sine ratione con- 

 cludere posse mihi videbar, hasce vivas a matre in lucem 

 editas fuisse."*"* Mr. Gray, in his Synopsis of Reptiles in 

 Griffith''s Animal Kingdom, refers J acquin"'s Lacerta vivipara 

 to the L. muralis of Daudin and Merrem {Podarcis muralts 

 of Wagler) : this mistake, however, Mr. Gray has, I believe, 

 subsequently corrected. 



It is in consonance with the remarks which I have ven- 

 tured to make on the real value of generic characters, and the 

 legitimate grounds for generic distinctions, that I have fol- 

 lowed Wagler in assigning a distinct appellation to the pre- 

 sent animal. Choosing minute and unimportant points of 

 external structure as what may be termed its artificial cha- 

 racter, it is in the peculiarity of its habits and physiology that 

 I rest its claim for separation from the forms most nearly 

 allied to it. But for this interesting peculiarity, — I mean 

 the fact of its being ovo- viviparous, — I should certainly have 

 retained it as a species of Lacerta, as I believe Mr. Gray 

 has recently done. Although, therefore, I have adopted 

 Wagler''s division of the Lacertine group as far as regards 

 our own indigenous species, I have done so upon very differ- 

 ent grounds ; and should not be disposed to follow him in 

 many of the artificial divisions which he has made throughout 

 the whole class of Reptilia. 



This agile and pretty little creature is the common inha- 

 bitant of almost all our heaths and banks in most of the dis- 

 tricts of England, and extending even into Scotland : it is 

 also one of the few reptiles found in Ireland. On the Con- 

 tinent its range does not appear to be very extensive : it is 



