THE TRUE LIZARDS 



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above the eyes. The absence of teeth on the palate is another feature in which this 

 species differs from the sand lizard. The color of the adult is brown, yellowish, or 

 reddish, ornamented with small dark and light spots, and often with a dark streak 

 down the back, and another, edged with yellowish, on each side. In the male, the 

 under surface is orange or vermilion, spotted with black, and in the female, pale 

 orange or yellow, sparsely spotted with black, or uniform. The young are nearly 

 black, and this hue occasionally persists. Unknown to the south of the Alps, the 

 viviparous, or, as it is sometimes called, mountain lizard, is spread over the greater 

 part of North and Central Europe, and the whole of Northern Asia, as far as Amur- 



VIVIPAROUS LIZARD 



(Natural size.) 



land, ranging in the Alps to a height of nearly ten thousand feet. At this eleva- 

 tion it is, however, dormant for fully three-quarters of the year, being active for 

 only two or three months. In Britain it extends to Scotland, and is one of the few 

 reptiles found in Ireland. Generally similar in its habits to its allies, it is more 

 fond of water, and is a good swimmer, usually frequenting heaths and banks. " Its 

 movements," writes Bell, " are beautifully graceful as well as rapid; it comes out of 

 its hiding place during the warm parts of the day from the early spring till autumn 

 has far advanced, basking in the sun, and turning its head with a sudden motion, 

 if an insect come within its view, and, darting like lightning upon its prey, it 



