TRUE LIZARDS. 



165 



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 

 South-Western Europe and the opposite coast of Africa constitute a third genus — 

 Psammodromws — in which the collar is indistinct or wanting, the toes are not 

 fringed, though generally more or less distinctly keeled interiorly, while the over- 

 lapping scales of the back bear strong keels. Among these the Spanish keeled 

 lizard, or sand-runner (P. hispanicus), retains a trace of a collar and has strongly 

 keeled soles; whereas in the Algerian keeled lizard (P. algirus) the collar is 



COMMON FRINGE-TOED LIZARDS (iiat. size). 



wanting, and the soles are at most but feebly keeled. The figured species, which 

 inhabits not only North-Western Africa, but likewise Portugal, Spain, and the 

 south of France, reaches nearly 10| inches in length, and has a tail almost twice as 

 long as the head and body. It is specially distinguished by the scales of the 

 abdomen being of nearly equal width and arranged in six rows, as well as by the 

 presence of from thirty to thirty-six scales round the middle of the body. In 

 colour, this lizard is bronzy-green above, with one or two golden, dark-edged 

 streaks along the side ; the male being ornamented with a pale blue eye-like 

 spot above the shoulder, sometimes followed by one or two behind, while the 

 under-parts are whitish. Abundant in Algeria and the neighbourhood of Mont- 

 pellier this lizard is found in the former region both in hedges and on limestone 

 rocks, whereas in France it frequents hedges alone. Preferring dry, open, and 



