.332 MR. G. A. BOULENGER ON THE [Nov. 29, 



5. On the Lacerta depressa o£ Camerano. 

 By G. A. BouLENGER, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S. 



[Received October 20, 1904.] 

 (Plate XXII *) 



Much work has been done lately on the various forms which 

 cluster round the common Lacerta muralis of Europe, and the 

 younger herpetologists have shown an ever increasing inclination 

 towards multiplying species. Whether this narrower conception of 

 species will result in a better understanding of the distribution and 

 phylogeny of this difficult group, is a question I will not at present 

 discuss. But I may say that these recent systematic attempts 

 seem to justify the view expressed by Dr. Giinther thirty years 

 agot, that "Such nominal species rarely survive their author; 

 but before they are merged again in the synonymy, they are the 

 cause of much unnecessary trouble, and being founded on slight 

 individual peculiarities, they are frequently mistaken, rarely 

 recognised." 



The history of Lacerta depressa illustrates the case in point. 



Some timo ago I received from my friend Dr. F. Werner a 

 lizard from the Bithynian Olympvis, near Brussa (altitude 1500- 

 1800 metres), which he referred to L. depressa of Camerano, and 

 particularly to the var. rudis of Bedriaga. An account of this 

 and other specimens of the same form is given by Werner in his 

 valuable paper on the Reptiles of Asia Minor J. This lizard 

 differs so considerably from the specimen of L. depressa (one of 

 the types, received from the Turin Museum) preserved in the 

 British Museum, that I could not satisfy myself of the correctness 

 of Werner's identification, notwithstanding his express statement 

 that this was arrived at after comparison of one of the types from 

 Trebizond, entrusted to him by the Tvirin Museum, 



In order to clear up my doubts, I applied to my friend Prof. 

 Camerano for the loan of the specimens of L. depressa § preserved 

 in the Museum under his charge ; and my request having been 

 kindly granted, I wish to lay before the Society the result of my 

 examination. 



This shows that, as could be gathered from Bedriaga's descrip- 

 tion II, the species is made up of several distinct forms (I would 

 call them varieties). There is no evidence that the specimens all 

 came from Trebizond, for De Filippi, their collector, himself says 

 of the species referred to L. taurica ^, " trovanno commune da 

 Trebisonda a Tiflis." It is remarkable that the descriptions of 

 both Camerano and Bedriaga, who had access to all the specimens, 



* For explanation of the Plate, see p. 339. 

 t Introduction to Catalogue of Pishes, viii. p. vi. 

 t Sitzb. Ak. Wien, cxi. 1902, p. 30, pi. iii. 



§ Podarcis depressa, Camerano, Atti Ace. Torin. .xiii. 1878, p. 539. 

 II Abh. Senck. Ges. xiv. 1886, p. 272. 

 % Arch, per la Zool. ii. 1863, p. 386. 



