112 THE BRITISH REPTILES. 



lower labials touch the chin shields. The scales on the back are 

 rhomboidal and smooth, and in nineteen rows ; the plates on the lower 

 surface are rounded, those along the tail being in a double series. 

 The tail is short, and strong at the base. The colour is reddish 

 brown above, with a dark patch on the back of the head from which 

 run two stripes or rows of dots along the body, and there is a dark 

 stripe through the eye, often extending along the neck ; the lower 

 parts are paler, but vary through almost every shade of brown, 

 orange, grey, and pale blue. For a few days after casting the skin 

 the ground colour is blue, but this soon fades into browns and dull 

 reds. The young are brownish above, and pale, glittering blue 

 below. They escape from the eggs almost while they are being laid, 

 and for some time are protected by the mother. They have been 

 described by Frank Buckland as basking in the sun, nestling on her 

 coils, being then some five inches long, as thick as a goosequill, and 

 smoother than the finest velvet. Though this snake has been 

 caught bathing it seems to have no marked partiality for water, 

 being generally met with in dry. sunny, stony places, where it feeds 

 chiefly on mice and voles, and Viz irds, by preference, when it can get 

 them. In length it is about two feet, the male being the smaller. It 

 is fiercer in temper than the Ringed Snake, and does not hibernate 

 for so long, but it does not range so far north, its area extending 

 through Central and Southern Europe into Asia Minor. 



Laoerta. Plate xxviii. LACERTILIA. 



76. vivipava, VIVIPAROUS LIZARD. Tail less than twice as long as 



head and body ; foot longer than head ; under parts 

 orange or yellow ; no palatal teeth. 



77. agilis, SAND LIZARD. Tail less than twice as long as head 



and body ; foot not longer than head ; under parts 

 greenish white ; palatal teeth. 



78. viridis, GREEN LIZARD. Tail more than twice as long as head 



and body. 



These three lizards live principally on flies and other insects 

 and on worms and snails. On the skin of the head are large shields 

 and small scales, and the scales on the back are smaller than those 

 on the tail. The tail is long, round, pointed, and so brittle that it 

 can easily be thrown off. There are five fingers and five toes, all with 

 sharp claws, and all having warty plates on the under surface. The 

 tongue is long, bifid, and papillose. The teeth are attached by 

 their sides to the side of the jaw, and not by their bases to its 

 ridge. 



The Viviparous Lizard is from five to seven inches in length. Its 

 head is depressed and the nose pointed ; there are no granules above the 

 eyes, and the rostral shield is separated from the nostril. The collar is 

 composed of seven or nine plates, and has a serrated edge. The scales 

 on the back are long, narrow, hexagonal, and indistinctly keeled, and 

 not larger than those in the sides ; the scales round the body do not 

 exceed forty-five in number. The tail is cylindrical for half its length, 

 and then begins to taper ; it is rather more than half as long again as the 



