EREMIAS VARIABILIS. 197 



skull is tawny, waved with brown ; the whole of the tail 

 is greenish grey ; sometimes there is a broad band along 

 the side, of a tawTiy or dull white colour ; all the lower 

 parts are white ; some indi\iduals have six whitish hues 

 running along the back and sides longitudinally, and the 

 tail is speckled with black; others are spotted all over 

 with black, and have a dull white band on each side of the 

 body, from the ear to the groin. 



Entire length, about 7 inches. 



Inhabits the Crimea, Egypt, and Barbary. 



Genus EREMIAS. 



The tongue and teeth as in the genus Lacerta. The 

 muzzle is swollen on each side in a conspicuous manner 

 into an excrescence, on the top of which is placed the 

 nostril ; the swollen portion is confined to the naso -rostral 

 and the two naso-frenal plates. A scaly collar under the 

 throat ; ventral plates quadrilateral, smooth, in straight or 

 slightly oblique longitudinal rows; pores on the thighs; 

 toes, five on each foot, unequal, sKghtly comj)ressed, keeled 

 beneath, but not toothed on the sides ; the tail somewhat 

 squared at its base, the rest of it round ; the two palpebral 

 plates on each side form, as in Acantliodactylus, a disk 

 surrounded wholly or in part by granules ; the temples are 

 always covered with very small scales, generally granular. 



Eremias variabilis. 



Eremias variabilis, Dum. et Bib. vol. v. p. 293. 



Lacerta variabilis, Pallas, Zoog. Ross. As. vol. hi. p. 31. 



Desceiptioi^. — No occipital plate; palatal teeth eight, or 

 sometimes only six, m number; disk over the eye nearly 

 round, composed of two equal plates, and with a large tri- 

 angular space in fi'ont covered with granules ; front margin 



