CRANIAL CHARACTEUS OF I.ACERTA JACKSONI. 35 



specimens, a condition said by Tornier to exist also in his Lacerta 

 vanereselli. 



The suture between the first supraciliaiy and the second is 

 slightly oblique. 



The frontal shield, which also varies slightly in length, and 

 which is especially short in some specimens, is on the whole shorter 

 and broader than would appear from the figure on the plate 

 accompanying the description of the type of the species. It 

 was particularly bi'oad in the male specimen which supplied the 

 skull for description. 



Colour-pattern and markings are quite uniform for the Elgon 

 specimens, and identical with the type of the species. In their 

 nearly fresh state of preservation their ventral sides were of a 

 vivid yellow, which, since their preservation in alcohol, has changed 

 into the whitish blue-grey described by Tornier in his Lacerta 

 vauereselli, or the pale blue ascribed to the Ruwenzori female. 



Reraarhs on some of the sicpjwsed Specl/tc Characters of 

 Lacerta vauereselli Tornier, 



On examination of specimens in a comparatively large series, 

 as may have been seen from the foregoing, it appears that some 

 of them are subject to individual variations. 



This is particularly noticeable in the scaling of the temporal 

 region, which was made one of the principal features by which 

 to distinguish Lacerta vauereselli from L. jacksoni. 



In the majority of specimens of the la,tter, these scales cor- 

 respond with Dr. Tornier's description of them *, and a special 

 note on this subject made on the male specimen — previous to re- 

 sorting to the excision of the skull — was to the efi'ect that these 

 scales were considerably larger than those of the upper dorsals, 

 being oblong, irregular in size, hexagonal to pentagonal in 

 shape, feebly though distinctly keeled, and decidedly double the 

 size of those situated immediately behind the auditory opening — 

 all of these being the chnracteristics ascribed by Dr. Tornier to 

 his Lacerta vauereselli^ and which are also referred to by Mr. 

 Boulengei' t at the end of his description of the Ruwenzori female. 



According to Dr. Tornier the collar is serrated. This, again, is 

 a point not always easy of recognition, for some specimens show 

 various degrees of unevenness in this respect. 



The same rema.rk applies to the number of plates forming the 

 colla.r-edge, which are stated by Toraier to be 11. In the type of 

 the species they are stated to be 10, which is the number also in one 

 of the Elgon specimens ; in the remainder of which, however, 

 they range downward to from 9 to 7 only, thus showing con- 

 siderable fluctuation. Pei-acca omits to quote their number. 



* Cfr. Zool. Air/.oiger, Bd. xxv., Oct. 1902. p. 702. 



t " Ruwenzori Exped. Reports," Traus. Zool. Soc. vol. xix. part iii., Dec. 1009, 

 p. 242. 



3* 



