1626 The Zoologist— April, 1869. 



The Common Lizard has no palate teeth ; the maxillary teeth are 

 minute and sharp-pointed; the nostrils are situated near the inferior 

 margin of the nasal plate; the nose is rather acute; the tongue is bifid and 

 extensile. The fore legs reach to the eyes or rather beyond them when 

 stretched forward ; the hind legs reach two-thirds of the way towards 

 the insertion of the fore legs when stretched forward; there are five 

 toes on each foot, all of them furnished with nails; on the fore feet, 

 the third and fourth toes are longest, then the second and fifth, and 

 the first is the shortest ; on the hind feet the fourth toe is much the 

 longest, then the third, second and fifth, and the first is much the 

 shortest. The body is stout, the tail long and slender; it is of nearly 

 the same thickness for the first half of its length, and then gradually 

 tapers to a point : the colour of the back is brown in both sexes, with 

 three longitudinal darker stripes from head to tail — of these the 

 median or dorsal stripe is often obscure, the lateral stripes being 

 more obvious: these stripes are more or less spotted with black. 



This is, /jar excellence, the common lizard of Sweden and Northern 

 Europe generally, and of England, Scotland and Ireland. St. Patrick, 

 when he banished snakes, vipers and toads from the sister island, 

 kindly allowed the lizard to remain, either influenced by its engaging 

 manners or in consideration of its extreme insignificance, some of the 

 Irish specimens, as Mr. Bewley informs us, not exceeding an inch in 

 length. Lord Clermont tells us that " it is never found in low or flat 

 countries but frequents mountain districts," a statement from which I 

 am very disinclined to dissent, seeing how much care the noble 

 author has bestowed on his valuable work ; but it has been within the 

 scope of my daily observation in the summer and autumn of every 

 year for nearly half a century that this lizard is abundant about 

 London and about Godalming, the only districts in which I have 

 resided many years continuously, and both of which localities in 

 reference to the sea level are decidedly " low." The common lizard 

 exhibits a marked preference for the green sand formation overlying 

 the chalk, and this is the surface soil both in its London and Godal- 

 ming localities. I have never seen it on the mountains of Wales, 

 Scotland or Ireland, but I am quite ready to admit the very 

 slender value of merely negative evidence, especially as the tourist 

 has not the same opportunities as the resident for making reliable 

 observations. 



In describing two animals so similar as our British lizards, it 

 becomes necessary to make the distinctions rather comparative than 



