218 THE REPTILES OF EGYPT. 
At Tangier, lizards occur, the leading features of which, so far as coloration is 
concerned, are the entire absence of any trace of either black or white spots on any 
part of the body, and the presence of great longitudinal bands of colour. Along the 
middle of the back from the snout to the tail there is a broad brown band which 
rapidly contracts between the hind limbs and is prolonged on to the upper surface 
of the tail as a narrow band. A narrow pale band, almost white, begins behind 
the nostril, gradually expanding till it becomes nearly half the breadth of the brown 
area of the back, and is continued on to the side of the tail. Beginning behind 
the eye is a deep black band, as broad as the previous band, and, like it, prolonged 
more or less on to the side of the tail. From below the ear, under the last band, 
a distinct pale greenish-blue band passes along the side of the body, extending well 
on to the lateral aspect of the belly. The underparts yellowish. The scales on the 
brown dorsal band have generally brownish posterior margins. The labials are marked 
almost exactly as in forma typica. There is a general tendency for the upper labials 
to decrease in size towards the fourth, but in a specimen from Sardinia the upper 
labials have the same character. The snout also is somewhat broader than in 
examples of forma typica from Egypt, but not more so than in tiligugu. The scales 
vary between 32 and 34. The uniformly coloured examples of forma typica in the 
extreme south-eastern range of the distribution of the species prepare us for the 
possible disappearance of the ocelli in other localities, and the existence of other 
examples in the same region with pale dorso-lateral lines opens up the way to the 
appearance of the pronounced pale bands of this variety. In the same way the dark 
brown lateral band that shows itself in tiligugu foreshadows the black lateral band of 
the variety vittata. In tiligugu the side of the body below the last-mentioned band is 
more or less suffused with bluish green, the equivalent of the more pronounced area of 
the same colour in vittata. The seeming divergence of coloration that subsists between 
such a variety as this from Tangier and the typically ocellated lizard is very striking, 
but the facts that have been adduced suffice to link the extremes together. 
An examination of the scales of the CO specimens from the localities mentioned in 
the accompanying table brings out the fact that the lowest number of scales (26) is 
not found in the northern extremity of the range of the species in Egypt, and that 
30 is extremely rare at Suakin and Tokar, indeed exceptional ; but of 32 examples 
collected between the shores of the Mediterranean and the Fayum, 20 have 30 rows 
of scales round the body, 11 have 28, and 1 has 32. Four of seven specimens 
obtained at Luxor have 26 scales, and three 28 round the body. Out of eight 
lizards from between Assuan and AVadi Haifa, the oasis of Khargeh and from Berys, 
seven have 28 rows of scales round the body, and one 30. Three specimens from 
Durrur have 28 scales and one 26. Among nine individuals from Suakin and Tokar, 
six have 26 scales, two have 28, and one has 30. 
