SAND LIZARD. 23 
glands, each placed in a scale, the middle of which is 
pierced by the opening of the follicle. In some the scale 
is very little larger than the pore, and appears almost like 
a minute tube; in others the scale is larger and triangular. 
The use of these pores is not known. They vary exceed- 
ingly in number, even in the same species: in this respect, 
therefore, they afford no distinctive characters. 
In some species, in addition to the teeth which are 
placed in the margins of the upper and lower jaws, there 
are also a few very minute ones in the back part of the 
palate, which may be readily felt by a pin or the point of 
a penknife. The existence or absence of these palatine 
teeth would, perhaps, scarcely be admissible alone as a 
generic distinction ; but when combined with others, and 
associated also with a marked difference of habit, it may 
be admitted as a valuable, because a tangible and perma- 
nent character. It is on this account that I have em- 
ployed it as one of the means of generic discrimination 
between our two English Lizards. 
I now proceed to the consideration of our first species. 
It has been well remarked by the Prince of Musignano, 
whose knowledge of the European Vertebrata in general, 
and of the Reptilia in particular, 4s undoubtedly superior to 
that of any other naturalist, that the Linnean term agilis 
has been applied by the Zoologists of different countries to 
that species of Lizard which is best known or most com- 
mon in their own. Thus the Podarcis muralis, the com- 
mon Lizard of Italy and of France, has been so called by 
Italian and French writers; and our own little indigenous 
species, so frequent in almost all parts of England, which I 
shall presently describe under its proper appellation of 
Zootoca vivipara, has hitherto received the same name from 
every British naturalist who has written on the subject. 
