xii LACERTIDAE 557 



The dorsal scales are minute and granular ; the ventral shields 

 are arranged in eight or ten longitudinal rows. 



The " Eyed Lizard " reaches a considerable size, especially the 

 males, which develop a very strong and thick head, and are 

 much more robust and powerful than the more slender females. 

 Old males reach a length of 2 feet, two -thirds of which 

 length belong to the tail ; but the latter varies much, even if it 

 has never been broken and renewed. 



The Eyed Lizard keeps extremely well in captivity, and in 

 this respect is unlike the Green Lizard. A case has been re- 

 corded of its living thirteen years. This species is very intelligent. 

 Although at first ferociously wild and biting furiously, these 

 lizards soon become tame and take food regularly. One of my 

 own, a half-grown male from Northern Spain, about one foot in 

 length, made its home in a little niche of the greenhouse-wall, 

 whence it emerged regularly to take the offered food from my 

 hand. It soon knew the whole place thoroughly, making use of 

 the creepers whilst scaling up to its retreat, jumping over certain 

 gaps, descending to the ground at certain spots, basking on 

 certain stones, invariably in the same methodical way. In the 

 month of October it retires into the ground on the coolest side 

 of the greenhouse, and although the latter is well warmed, the 

 lizard remains invisible until the next February or March, 

 when on some fine day it is rediscovered basking upon exactly 

 the same stone where it had been seen five months before. The 

 only drawback in connexion with keeping this kind of lizard in 

 company with other creatures is their voraciousness ; since large, 

 fully adult specimens attack and eat any other small lizard, 

 slow-worm, or snake they can find. They also take mice. The 

 eggs are often deposited in hollow trees. 



L. muralis, the Wall -Lizard, is very common in Southern 

 Europe, Asia Minor, and Northern Africa. Northward it 

 extends into Belgium and into South Germany. In the Iberian 

 Peninsula it ascends up to 5000 or 6000 feet above the level 

 of the sea. This graceful little creature, with an average length 

 of 6 to 8 inches, is easily recognised by the series of granules 

 between the supraocular and supraciliary scales and usually by 

 having only six rows of ventral scales. The great variety in colora- 

 tion has given rise to the establishment of many races, varieties, and 

 sub-species. In the typical forms the upper parts are brown or 



