Lacerta. 165 



frontals ; frontal usually as long as its distanco from the end of the 

 snout, often a little shorter, sometimes a little longer,* usually broader 

 in front than l»ehind, where its width usually equals or is a little less 

 than that of the supraoculars ; parietals li to If times as long as broad,t 

 usually in contact with the upper postocular,| the outer border never 

 distinctly concave in front for the reception of the anterior upper 

 temporal ; occipital usually shorter than and as broad as or narrower 

 than the interparietal, but sometimes as long and not rarely broader, § 

 very exceptionally minute or reduced to a granule ; a small shield 

 sometimes separates the interparietal from the occipital. Four supra- 

 oculars, tirst small or very small, || second as long as or longer than 

 third, fourth small, sometimes divided into two ; 4 to 6 superciliaries, 

 first usually longest and forming an oblique suture with the second ; a 

 series of granules, rarely reduced to as few as five, between the supra- 

 oculars and the su[)erciliaries ; the first or the first and second super- 

 ciliaries usually in contact with the second supraocular, but the series 

 of granules sometimes complete, extending from the first supraocular 

 to the upper postocular. Rostral very rarely entering the nostril^ ; 

 nasal usually separated from the anterior loreal by the postnasal,** 

 which is singleft ; anterior loreal much shorter than second ; four 

 upper labials anterior to the subocular, rarely three or five ; subocular 

 very variable in shape, its lower border usually narrower than the 

 upper, but sometimes quite as long. Temporal scales small, polygonal, 



* Shortest frontal, measuring only * its distance from end of snout, in a male 

 from St. Malo. Fejervary (op. cit.) figures the head-shields of a specimen from 

 Bex, Switzerland, in which the fx'ontal is in contact with the fii'st supraocular. 



t In four specimens fi-om Lower Austria the parietal on both sides is 

 completely divided into two by a horizontal suture, in six the division is com- 

 plete on one side and incomijlete on the other, whilst all the others from the 

 same district show at least an indication of this aberrant condition, such as 

 is rarely met with in other parts of Evxrope. A female from Jersey has each 

 parietal completely divided into two. 



X Exceptions, in which the anterior upper temporal is in contact with the 

 fourth supraocular, in 12 per cent, of the specimens examined by me (France, 

 Austria, Spain). 



§ Posterior border as broad as that of the frontal in a male from S. of the 

 Abruzzi, in a female from Jersey, in 2 males and 1 female from Villefranche 

 s. M., and in a male from Hernani. 



II Absent in a male from Reichenau and in a female fi"om Voslau. 



^ Male from Fontainebleau and male from Bies Glacier, near Randa ; also in 

 the two specimens from Crete, which I have long hesitated to refer to this form. 



** Exceptions not at all infrequent. 



tt Absent, fused with the anterior loreal, in a male from St. Malo ; divided 

 into two in a female from Paris. 



