SAND LIZARD. 



abdominal plates, the prae-anal plate, those which are per- 

 forated by the femoral pores, and the scales of the tail. 



In the whole of the sub-family of Lacertina the head is 

 covered by the number of plates designated above, differing 

 only in some very trifling modifications of form. The ab- 

 domen is covered by broad plates, as seen in the figure, 

 not imbricated, or lying one over another, as are the scales 

 of the back and tail, but applied to each other at the mar- 

 gins ; and these are arranged in longitudinal rows. There is 

 in all the species a distinct collar, composed of several scales, 

 larger than those which cover the throat, and quite detached 

 from the plates which cover the breast, which they loosely 

 overlay. The scales of the back and sides are small, and 

 imbricated. Those of the tail are always arranged in distinct 

 and even whorls, are elongated and narrow, becoming more so 

 towards the termination of the tail. The femoral pores, as 

 they are termed, exist also in all the family. They consist, 

 probably, of very small follicular glands, each placed in a 

 scale, the middle of which is pierced by the opening of the 

 follicle. In some the scale is very little larger than the pore, 

 and appears almost like a minute tube ; in others the scale is 



