The Zoologist— April, 1869. 1619 



or squamiform divisions, often so exactly representing true scales as to 

 have led even the most learned naturalists to call them by that name : 

 their legs vary in number, and are four, two, or none ; the tongue 

 is also very various in form, and their mode of reproduction is diflferent 

 in different tribes — they agree, however, in having the bones of the 

 head closely united, and in this respect diflfer from the snakes, in which 

 these bones are separate. We have four members of this order sup- 

 posed to inhabit Britain, and these belong to two families, called, by 

 Lord Clermont, Lacertinidae and Scincoideae. In both instances I 

 cite the characters given by this distinguished naturalist, not having 

 sufficient knowledge of the exotic forms of either family to draw up 

 original diagnoses. 



Family Lacertinid^. 



" The body is prolonged, with four feet, having four or five claws, 

 all provided with nails ; the tail long, conical, often twice as long as 

 the body ; the head protected by horny many-sided plates ; the belly 

 covered with large scales; the tongue free, extensile, divided into two 

 filaments towards the top ; the eyelids are moveable." 



Genus, Lacerta. 

 Of which the characters of the British species are those of the family. 



The Green Lizard {Lacerta viridis). 

 Guernsey Lizard. Jersey Lizard. 



Lacerta agilis, /3. viridis. Litmeus, Faun. Suec, p. 289. 

 ILsicerta. v'uid'is, Dutneril and Bibron,vo\. v., p. 210; Clermont, 

 Quadrupeds and Reptiles of Europe, p. 184. 



The palate teeth are usually twelve on each side; the tongue is 

 extensile and bifid at the extremity; the nose is rather pointed and 

 the nostrils approximate ; the fore feet extend to the nostrils, the hind 

 feet to the commencement of the fore feet, or within a short distance 

 of them ; the tail comprises two-thirds of the length of the body ; 

 the scutes on the upper part of the neck and beginning of the back are 

 oval and tectiform, becoming by degrees more hexagonal as they 

 approach the tail ; the scutes on the sides are oval, with a slight 

 longitudinal elevation along their centres excepting in the three or 

 four rows next to the ventral plates, which are quite flat ; in a line 

 drawn over the centre of the back, from one edge of the ventral region 



