42 Lacertidn'. 



AcanfhoihictyhiK viilri<irii', vars. heUi, aflanficn, mivuritanicn, hlanci, 

 Bouleiit?. Bull. Soc. Zool. Franco, 1918, p. 149. 



In the broad sense, A. vulgaris embraces all the individuals combining 

 the following characters : Small dorsal scales, ventral plates much 

 broader than long and in 8 or 10 longitudinal series, strongly keeled 

 upper caudal scales, fee1)ly denticulated digits, and the first and fourth 

 supraoculars more or less broken up into small shields and granules.* 

 Like all Acanthodactyls with an extensive range, it varies considerably, 

 and mav be divided into several rather ill-defined geographical forms. 

 In order to avoid confusion, the following description is drawn up 

 exclusivelv from Spanish and Portugese specimens, which represent 

 the typical A. vulgaris of Dunu'ril and Biln-on. The distinctive features 

 of the varieties, together with the numerical variation shown by the 

 material at my disposal, will be dealt with afterwards. 



Habit rather robust, l)ody moderately elongate, decidedly depressed.! 

 Head 1^ to l.V times as long as broad, its length of to 4 times in 

 length to vent in males, 4 to 4^, times in females, its depth equal to 

 the distance Ijetween the anterior corner or the centre of the eye and 

 tvmpaunm ; a lanceolate concavity from the frontonasal to the middle 

 of the frontal ; snout obtusely pointed, as long as the postocular part 

 of the head, with rather sharp canthns and feeljly concave loreal 

 region ; nasals feebly swollen. Pileus twice as long as broad. Neck 

 as broad as the head. The hind limb reaches the shoulder or the ear, 

 usuallv lietween these two points, in males, the axil or between the 

 shoulder and the ear in females; foot li to 1? times as long as the 

 head; fourth toe, from the ])ase of the fifth, as long as the head, or a 

 little longer (up to 11. times), or a trifle shorter. Tail 1? to 2 times 

 as long as head and liody. 



Upper head-shields convex, sometimes rugose in the adult. Suture 

 jjetween the nasals ^^ to }, the length of the frontonasal, which is 

 broader than long, and a little broader than the internarial space ; 

 prefrontals longer than Ijroad and forming a median suture^ ; frontal 



* Scales across ?niddle of body 50 to 72 ; transverse series of ventral plates 

 28 to :?3 ; gnlar scales 21 to 32 ; femoral pores 18 to 30 ; lamellas under fourth 

 toe 18 to 25. 



t Bedriai,'a (1889) says '' tronc . . . arrondi on k'gin-enient deprime." 

 In specimens preserved in spirit the depth of the body is usually li to 1| times 

 in the width, and in life, according to the same authority (1879), these lizards 

 " platten sich, sobald der oeringste [Sonnen] Stratil in ihren Kiifig fiillt, 

 ganz ab." 



X A small azygos prefrontal in a male from Oiudad Eeal and in a young 

 from Tabernas de Valldigna. 



