26 OUR REPTILES. 



exceeding from five and a half to six inches in length. 

 The tail is longer in proportion, and of a different 

 shape, retaining the same thickness for the first half 

 of its length, and then diminishing gradually to its 

 extremity ; the palate is without teeth, the temple 

 is covered with small polygonal plates, with a large 

 angular one in the centre. The scales on the back 

 are long, narrow, and hexagonal, and less distinctly 

 keeled than in the next species. The head is 

 more depressed and the nose sharper. The plates of 

 the belly are in six rows, with two small marginal 

 series ; the preanal plate is bordered by two rows of 

 scales. The fore legs reach to the eye, the hind 

 legs extend along two-thirds of the sides ; pores 

 from nine to twelve on each thigh. The back is 

 brown, olive, or reddish, with a black band on each 

 side from the head to the tail ; a second dark band 

 runs along the side, and is edged with white. The 

 under parts are spotted with black upon a whitish 

 ground, generally with a bluish or greenish tinge.* 



The relative size and vivaparous character are the 

 best features whereby to distinguish this species 

 from the next. 



* Lord Clermont's " Reptiles of Europe," p. 184. 



