2524 SCALED REPTILES 



seizes it with its little sharp teeth, and speedily swallows it." Unlike its kin, 

 this species produces living young, varying from three to six in number, which 

 are active as soon as born, and remain in the company of their parent for some time. 

 The last representative of the typical genus that we shall notice is 

 the beautiful wall lizard (L. muralis), of which a group is depicted 

 in our colored plate. This southern species, which inhabits the countries bordering 

 both sides of the Mediterranean, and extends eastward into Persia, belongs to a 

 group in which the edge of the collar on the neck is even or but slightly serrated, and 

 the scales of the back are granular. Attaining in Germany a length of from seven 

 to seven and one-half inches, but reaching from eight to nine and one-half inches 

 in Italy, this species has a series of granules between the shields above the eyes, 

 while the scales of the abdomen are arranged in six (rarely eight) rows, and those 

 on the upper surface of the leg are larger than those on the back, and there is but a 

 single (postnasal) scale behind each nostril. In color the wall lizard presents such 

 an astonishing 'variation, that it is almost impossible to give any general descrip- 

 tion. In German examples the ground color of the back is, however, often brown 

 or gray, with bronze-green reflections in sunlight, upon which are blackish streaks, 

 marblings, and spots; while the flanks have a row of blue spots, and the under 

 parts vary from milk white to copper red, frequently variegated by spots or 

 marblings. In Southern Europe these lizards may be seen basking on almost every 

 wall, old building, or face of rock, where they delight all beholders with their 

 activity and tameness. "Scarcely two," writes Leith-Adams, "are marked alike; 

 the brightness and variety of their hues are most beautiful and attractive, and, like 

 the chamseleon, they change color with the coruscations of sunshine, but, of 

 course, not to the same extent. During an excursion to the islet of Filfla, on the 

 southern coast of Malta, in the month of June, I was surprised to find that all the 

 lizards on the rock were of a beautiful bronze black, and so much tamer than their 

 agile brethren on the mainland. Many individuals were so tame that they 

 scrambled about our feet, and fed on the refuse of our luncheon." Whereas in the 

 Southern Tyrol these lizards remain active till December, and reappear by the 

 middle of February; in Germany their winter sleep is considerably longer. Like its 

 congeners, this species has an exceedingly-brittle tail; and it was observed some 

 years that on a certain road in Madeira all the lizards belonging to a nearly-allied 

 species (L. dugesi) were Vithout tails. The circumstance was explained by the 

 spot being the favorite resort of the midshipmen landing from the ships visiting the 

 island, who amused themselves by knocking off the lizards' tails. 



The members of the genus Lacerta. as we have seen, are character- 

 Keeled 



ized by the presence of a well-marked collar on the neck, by the 



scales of the back being smaller than those on the tail, and by the 

 toes being without fringes on their sides, or keels on their soles. An allied genus 

 Algiroides represented by three species from the eastern coast of the Adriatic, 

 Greece, Sardinia, and Corsica, differs by the strongly overlapping scales of the 

 back being nearly as large as those of the tail. On the other hand, four species 

 inhabiting Southwestern Europe and the opposite coast of Africa constitute a third 

 genus Psammodromus in which the collar is indistinct or wanting, the toes are 



