Psammodromus. 177 



shields, wlaicli may be feebly keeled ; a large tympauic shield. 

 Lower eyelid usually with the median scales feebly enlarged vertically. 

 Gular scales iml>ricate, gradually enlarged posteriorly, where they 

 merge without interruption into the veutrals ; 14 to 20 scales in a 

 straight median line ; no gular fold ; no collar, but a curved fold in 

 front of the shoulder.* Scales on side of neck strongly imbricate, 

 pointed, strongly keeled. 



Scales on back acutely pointed and mucronate, with strong straight 

 keels, on sides similar but narrower, passing gradually into the 

 ventrals, which are not or but little broader than long, rounded or 

 obtusely pointed and very strongly imbricate ; 23 to 28 scales across 

 the middle of the bod3^ Ventral plates in 6 longitudinal and 22 to 29 

 transverse series. Preanal plate moderate or small, with obtusely 

 pointed scales around it. 



Scales on limbs pointed, imbricate, keeled. 14 to 21t femoral pores 

 on each side, usually 15 to 19. 19 to 24 lamellar scales under the 

 fourth toe, usually 19 to 23. 



Caudal scales similar to dorsals, the whorls equal in length, the 

 fourth or fifth containing 18 to 23 scales. 



Bronzy or coppery brown above, usually with two yellowish white 

 or golden-yellow streaks on each side, the upper from the superciliary 

 edge to the tail, the lower from the upper lip to the base of the hind 

 limb, passing just below the ear-opening and above the fore limb; 

 these streaks may be edged with dark brown or black ; a third light 

 streak may extend from the eye to the ear or to the side of the neck ; 

 a black streak, or its traces, from the nostril to the eye, then bifur- 

 cating, usually present ; males with the flanks sometimes spotted with 

 black and with a pale blue ocellus above the shoulder, sometimes 

 followed by a few more ; a dark brown or blackish vertebral stripe 

 sometimes present in specimens from Morocco and Algeria, also in one 

 from Spain (Tellieux) preserved in the Paris Museum, and when 

 bordered by a yellow streak on each side we have the six-streaked 

 var. nolli of J. v. Fischer. Lower parts white or yellowish or greenish 

 white, the lower surface of the hind limbs and of the tail orange or red 

 in the young. 



A melanistic fonn, blackish above with pale blue dots, bluish grey 

 beneath, occurs on G-alitone Island near Galita, Tunisia, and has been 

 named var. dor-iR' by Bedriaga. 



* This fold serves for distinguishing- between gular and ventral scales, Avliich 

 completely merge into each other. 



t 13 to 16 according to Bedriaga. The pores may be so small and indistinct 

 in females as to render their exact counting difficult. 



VOL. II. 12 



