222 Lacertidse. 



spots, exactly as iu the lizard from Filfola. The larger female is 

 dark brown above, with a black network enclosing small yellowish 

 spots, and with traces of three black longitudinal stripes, the median 

 very narrow ; belly pinkish, the sides spotted with black ; small blue 

 spots on the outer row of ventral shields. The smaller female also 

 dark brown above, with a narrow black vertebral streak and a black 

 lateral band edged with whitish above and below ; lower parts as iu 

 the preceding. 



The true Lacerta fiJfalensis, from the Filfola Rock near Malta, 

 which I have also seen alive, is remarkable for its larger size and 

 dark coloration. Upper parts usually ]>lack, with pale green dots 

 or small round or oval spots, which are usually larger on the sides, 

 som(;times dull olive-brown with black spots and a broad black 

 vertebral stripe ; head black or dark brown above, uniform or with 

 small light spots. Belly black and blue on the sides, copper-colour, 

 orange or black iu the middle in males, pink, dull yellow, or black in 

 females ; in some specimens large black spots form regular longitudinal 

 bands on the ventral plates. Tail sometimes with light spots above 

 and beneath. A female specimen is entirely black above. The 

 Filfola lizard has often been compared or even associated with other 

 melanic forms peculiar to islets or detached rocks on the west coast 

 of Italy, in the Balearic Islands aud in the Adriatic. It must be 

 borne in mind that the resemblance is entirely superficial, the 

 melanism being here due not to a darkening of the ground colour but 

 to the extension of the black markings, another example of which is 

 offered by the var. nlgrlventris, which inhabits the mainland of Italy, 

 thus showing, as iu the case of L. oxycephala, that melanic races may 

 be developed and fixed quite apart from isolation on small islands. 

 That the colour is influenced by environment is an explanation that 

 "will certainly be rejected by those who, like myself, have seen the green 

 lizai'ds of the var. albiventris running on the old walls of Rome side 

 by side with the black var. nigriventris. 



As a series of measurements shows, there is no difference in the 

 proportions between the Maltese lizard and that from Filfola. I am 

 at a loss to understand how Eimer* can have described the former 

 as " platycephalous " as opposed to the latter, which he regarded as 

 " pyramidocephalous." 



Particulars of Specimens Examined. 



1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 



c? Malta 71 61 27 11 35 25 34 



„ „ 65 62 25 11 21 20-18 27 



* Arch. f. Nat. 1881, p. 370. 



