ALLIED TO LACERTA MURALIS. 55 



llnhitnt. The South and South-^^'est Coast of the Caspian Sea ; the specimens 

 examined by me are from Enzeli and Resht, in Persia, those described by Mehely are 

 from Lenkoran and Baku in Transcaucasia and Astrabad in Persia. 



In the shape of the head, in the serrated collar, in the pointed caudal scales, 

 //. c/ilorof/ader bears some resemblance to L. taurica, and Mehely tinds a great 

 similarity between the skulls of the two species ; the green colour of the lower parts 

 and the keeled dorsal scales contrasting with the smaller laterals are characters 

 siiared by L. pi^aticola. Yet I do not think there is any close relationship between 

 the three species. There is, on tlie whole, more in common with L. muralis, vars. 

 saxicola and caucasica, as recogjiised by Mehely. L. clilorogaster differs from all 

 the forms of L. muralis in combining keeled hexagonal dorsal scales with smaller 

 laterals. It would perhaps be as well to regard L. c/doror/aster as a variety of 

 L. muralis, more primitive in most respects than any of the Transcaucasian-Persiau 

 forms with which we are at present acquainted. 



Apart from the shape of the head, it is not without resemblance with the African 

 L. jacksouii, the two often agreeing very closely in the markings {cf. PI. IV. 

 tigs. 1, 3), and, although its true affinities are still a puzzle, I cannot think of a 

 better position for it in the serial arrangement that has to be followed than between 

 L. muralis and L. jacksvnti. 



Lacerta jacksonii. 



Lace rt a jack so III Bouleng. Proc. Zool. Soc. 18'.''.', p. ','(), pi. x. ; Poracca. Ruwenzori, i. ]>. 1B6 (190'.^) ; 

 Bouleiig. Tr. Zool. Soc. xix. I'.'O'.', p. 242 ; De-ron, Proc. Zool. Soc. ItllO, p. lH ; Sternf. iii 

 Sohubotz, AViss. Ergebn. Deut-^cli. Z.-Afr. Expel., Zool. ii. p. -lUi (1'.112). 



Lacerta jacksoni, subsp. kibonotensis Liinnl)erg, in Sjiistedt, Kilim.-Meru Exped., Kept. Batr. p. ."> 

 (1907), and Svensk. Vet.-Ak. Handl. (2) xlvii. no. 0, ll'l 1. p. 14. 



Head and body much depressed. Head large in the full-grown male (Sj to 4 times 

 in length to vent), 1| to Ij times as long as broad, its depth equal to the distance 

 between the posterior corner of the eye and the anterior border of the tympanum ; 

 occipital region quite flat ; snout obtusely pointed, shorter than the postocular part of 

 head ; cheeks swollen in the male ; length of pileiis twice or a little more than twice 

 its width. Neck as broad as liead. Hind limb reaching the axil, the shoulder, 

 or tlie collar in the male, the elbow in the female; foot as long as the head in the 

 male, usually a little longer in the female. Tail cylindrical, 1^ to If times as long 

 as head and body. 



Nostril pierced between tiie nasal, a postnasal, and the first upper labial. Nasals 

 forming a suture behind tlie rostral * ; frontonasal broader than long; frontal as long 

 as its distance from the rostral or the end of the snout, 1' to Ij times as long as 

 broad, as broad, behind, as the major supraoculars or a little broader ; parietals 



* In one of the specimens examined l)y Peracca. the froutouasal touches the rostral. 



