1907.] THE IONIAN LIZARD. 559 



5. Frontal shield about as long as frontoparietals in L. ionica, 

 considei-ably longer in L. taurica. I cannot understand how such 

 a statement can have been made, and a few measurements will 

 suffice to refute it :— 



1-3. Roumania ; 4-5. Hungary; 6-7. Corfu; 

 8-10. Cephalonia. 



6. Occipital shield as large as oi- a little larger than the inter- 

 parietal in L. ionica, smaller in L. taiirica. The reverse is some- 

 times the case, although, as a rule, the occipital is a little longer, 

 as compared to the interparietal, in the former than in the latter, 



7. Dorsal scales feebly keeled in L. ionica, strongly in L. taurica. 

 The degree of carination is variable in both forms, but I have 

 before me a female from Roumania {L. taurica) in which the dorsal 

 scales are ti'uly granular, and almost smooth. 



8. The caudal scales are more pointed in L. taurica. These 

 scales are more or less pointed in both forms ; there is no constant 

 difference between the two. 



9. Collar more strongly serrated in L. taurica. Again I find 

 no constant difference. Lehrs is wrong in saying that the collai- 

 is never really seriuted in these lizards, " Ein loirklich gezahneltes 

 Halsband (wie etwa L.viridis) hat eigentlich keine der erwahnten 

 Formen [X. taurica, L. ionica, L. littoralis\.'' I give further on 

 (text-fig. 164 a, p. 563) a figure of a L. taurica from Sebastopol, 

 which shows that the collar may be as strongly serrated as in 

 L. viridis. 



And that is all, so far as stiaictural characters are concerned. 



As to the coloration, I confess the appearance of the beautiful 

 Corfu Lizai'd, when alive, is strikingly different from that of a 

 typical L. tau,rica, as may be seen by the figures on Plate XXX. 

 But the only i-eal difference consists in a preponderance of the 

 green colour, which extends to or beyond the light dorso-lateral 

 lines wdiich are usually at least indicated in the females and young 

 in L. taurica the green colour is usually restricted to a median 

 band on the back (text-fig. 165 a, p. 565), but this band may be 

 much broadened on the anterior part of the back, as shown 

 by some Roumanian specimens (text-fig. 165 c, p. 565), which 

 thus form a link between the two extremes. The extent and 

 disposition of the black spots may be the same in the two 

 forms. Some of the Ionian specimens have a vertebral series of 

 black spots, or may lack spots and streaks altogether, and thus 

 differ from the typical L. taurica ; but such diflerences are not 

 outside the range of variation which we know in many othei- 

 species of Lizards, even within the limits of a race, e. g. L. muralis, 

 vars. littoralis and serpa. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1907. Ko. XXXYIIX. 38 



