ALLIED TO LACEETA MUEALIS. 21 



is continued all along the body, whilst iu others it is broken up into a series of spots 

 which are dark-edged on the sides, and a similar series of spots extends along the 

 border of the dark band, thus making three series of dorsal occUi ; or the spots 

 bordering the band are more or less confluent into a light dark-edged streak. On 

 each side there is an upper series of large ocellar spots, starling from above the 

 tympanum and terminating above the hind limb ; a light dark-edged streak or a 

 series of ocelli from the tympanum to the thigh and reappearing on the tail ; a broad, 

 light, dark-edged streak along each side of the belly on the outer ventral plates; 

 sometimes this ventral streak sends off upward processes which break up into spots, 

 tlms forming a fourth lateral series of ocelli. A more or less complete light ring 

 surrounds the tympanum, and the lateral streaks or series of spots never extend on 

 the temple as they do in tlie vars. exifjua and chersonensis. Only exceptionally is a 

 liglit line present from the superciliary edge along the suture between the parietal 

 and the upper temporals beliind which it joins the light line bordering the dark 

 vertebral band, which widens towards the occiput. 



In other young, from Baden and Basle, we find a tendency for the lateral ocelli to 

 multiply and to lose their regular arrangement, as is frequently the case in adult 

 males. 



The three light dorsal streaks or series of spots evidently correspond to the better- 

 defined streaks of the young of the var. ex'ujua, but the outer, bordering the dark 

 dorsal band, have become disconnected from the superciliary streak. In some cases, 

 however, as has been stated above, the connexion has persisted. That the dark 

 dorsal and lateral bands represent the same iu L, vimpara and L. muralis is beyond 

 question. 



This explanation is necessary, as at first sight one might be embarrassed in homolo- 

 gising the markings with those of, say, L. muralis, var. campcstris or \ar. Jiumana, in 

 which a dark vertebral band is bordered on each side by a light streak which appears 

 to correspond to that in the same position in L. agilis, but which the above evidence 

 shows to have been lost in most specimens of the typical form of this species ; there 

 are, however, exceptions, in which the five original light dorsal streaks are repre- 

 sented by as many series of white dots. It would also be impossible to reconcile this 

 pattern of striation with that of Acanthodactylus vulgaris, if the key to the problem 

 were not offered by the young of the var. exigua (figured in the Introduction, p. lo), 

 which is the least remote from the hypothetical ancestral type *. 



In the adult the dark borders of the ocelli usually become enlarged into spots 

 (var. annuluta ^^'erner), often squarish in shape, and other spots may be added and 

 so crowded as to cover the greater part of the dark dorsal baud of the young, which 

 may be edged with black, and the same may take place on the sides ; the lighter 



* In connexion with these remarks 1 must observe that I regard Werner's diagrammatic figures 58 and 59 

 in Zool. Juhrb., Syst. vi. 1892, pi. ix., as incorrect. 



