1907.] ON THE IONIAN LIZARD. 557 



2. On Lacerta ioiwxi Lehrs, a Variety oi Lacerta taurica 

 Pallas. By G. A. Boulengek, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S. 



[Received May 23, 1907.] 

 (Plate XXX.*- and Text-figures 162-165.) 



In a paper dealing Avitli the inter-relations of the South European 

 Lizards of the genus Lacerta, published a few years ago t, Herr 

 Philip Lehrs has pi'oposed the name Lacerta ionica for a form 

 inhabiting the Ionian Islands, which had been referred by pre- 

 vious authors to Z. tatirica, L. muralis, or L. peloponnesiaca,, and 

 which he regarded as a species allied to but quite distinct from 

 L. taurica. 



I have at various times received examples of this Ionian Lizard 

 through Dr. F. Werner and Herr Lorenz Mliller, and I have 

 lately procured a number of living specimens from Corfu, two of 

 which are represented on the coloured plate appended to this 

 paper. I have availed myself of this material to institute a 

 careful comparison of L. ionica with L, taurica, and to put to the 

 test the characters adduced by Herr Lehrs for theii- sepai-ation, 

 with the result that I am unable to agree with this author's 

 conclusions. 



1 cannot find characters to justify a specific separation. The 

 dorsal scales are, as a rule, a little smaller (hence more numerous) 

 in the Ionian Lizard than in the typical L. taurica from the 

 Crimea, — a character which has not even been alluded to by 

 Hr. Lehrs ; but, as will be seen by the numbers of scales given 

 in the following table, this is not constant, and there is really no 

 correlation between the scaling and the coloration. The difFei'ence 

 in coloi-ation is not of a very fundamental kind, and will be found 

 to be bridged over when a large series of specimens is available 

 for comparison. As to the structviral characters adduced to 

 justify a specific sepai'ation, they do not stand the test of a 

 ci-itical examination. 



Taking them in the order in which they appear in Hr. Lehi's' 

 description, I note : — 



1. L. ionica is stated to be larger than L. taurica. There is 

 however, very little difi"erence between the two. My largest male 

 L. taurica (from Roumania) measures 68 millim. from snout to 

 vent, and Kiritezcu % mentions another measuring 71 ; my largest 

 male L. ionica measures 80. Considei-ing the variation in size to 

 which all Lizards are subject, this character has no importance 

 whatever. 



2. The shape of the head is believed to be diflferent, being more 

 pointed, with a less " sheep-like " profile, in L. ionica. The 



* For explanation of the Plate, see p. 566. 



t Zool. Anz. 1902, p. 225. 



X Bui. Soc. Sci. Bucarest, x. 1901, p. 314. 



