VIVIPAROUS LIZAKD. 37 



than the orifice of the pores, as in that species, they are 

 small, rounded, and so little larger than the pores, as to 

 appear merely as the sides of a tube. This is a very tan- 

 gible character, though, I believe, not before observed. 

 " The following," says Mr. Jenyns, "are sexual distinctions: 

 In the male, the tail and legs are longer in proportion to the 

 body ; the former is nearly (in some specimens quite) two- 

 thirds of the entire length : the hind-leg applied to the side 

 of the abdomen reaches to, or passes beyond, the carpus of 

 the fore-foot ; the ante -anal lamella is shorter, and broader, 

 or more transverse ; the under side of the base of the tail 

 is flattened wdth a slight longitudinal depression of the mid- 

 dle just behind the vent ; during the season of sexual excite- 

 ment, the base of the tail is much dilated at the sides, ap- 

 pearing swollen.* In the female, the abdomen is longer 

 and the tail shorter, the latter being often not more than 

 half the entire length : the hind-leg barely reaches to the tips 

 of the claws of the fore-foot ; the ante-anal lamella is longer 

 in proportion to its breadth, and of a more decided hexa- 

 gonal or pentagonal form ; the base of the tail is rounded, 

 and never dilated at the sides,"-]" 



The colours and markings of this species vary greatly. 

 The general ground colour of the upper parts is a greenish 

 brown, wdth a dark brown line down the middle of the back, 

 which is often somewhat interrupted ; a broad fascia extends 

 parallel with this on each side, commencing behind the eyes, 

 and extending to a greater or less length down the tail ; be- 

 tween these and the former are often one or more rows of 

 black dots, and similar ones occur in many individuals in the 



* It is in this state undoubtedly the Lacerta oedura described by Mr. Shep- 

 pard in the seventh volume of the Linnean Transactions, as having the tail 

 bulging out a little below the base, as if it had been cut off and set on again. 

 This was first detected by Mr. Gray, and published in the Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society for 1834. 



t Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 293. 



