58 BRITISH LIZARDS 



this species in the northern counties of England ? To 

 answer that question we cannot do better than quote 

 a communication to The Zoologist of September 1901, 

 by Mr. T. A. Coward, the well-known Cheshire 

 ornithologist. We give the communication in extenso, 

 as it covers the ground, and from it my readers can 

 gather the position of the matter. It is as follows : — 



"The Sand Lizard in the North of England. 



" In the recent volume of the Cambridge Natural 

 History on ' Amphibia and Eeptiles,' Dr. Hans Gadow 

 says that the sand lizard (Z. agilis, Linn.) ' is absent 

 in Ireland and Scotland, while in England it is re- 

 stricted to the southern half ' ; and a similar statement 

 is made by Mr. Boulenger in the Hampshire volume 

 of the Victoria History of the Counties of England. 

 The reputed sand lizards, frequently reported from 

 northern counties, generally prove, on investigation, 

 to be large examples of the common lizard (Z. vivi- 

 para). This, however, is not the case in Lancashire, 

 and, I believe, in Cheshire, for on the coast sandhills 

 the true sand lizard was formerly common, and may 

 even yet occur in places where the sandhills are 

 unreclaimed. Lancashire naturalists of the old school 

 knew the sand lizard well, but, as questions of geo- 

 graphical distribution did not greatly interest them, 

 there are few records left beyond the bare fact that 

 the species was common. There are, however, speci- 

 mens in the Warrington Museum, whose identity Mr. 



