200 ME. G. A. BOULENGER ON THE 



Measurements (in millimetres) : — 



d. 

 Mleti. 



From end of snout to vent 53 



„ ,, „ fore limb .... 20 



Length of head 14 



Width of head 8 



Depth of head 7 



Fore limb 18 



Hind limb 29 



Foot 16 



Tail 105 



In form, scaling, and coloration, this variety has much in common with the Spanish- 

 Portuguese var. bocagii, the resemblance being particularly striking if the specimen 

 from Mt. Fatguss be compared Avitb some from the mountains of Portugal. I may 

 add that a male from the Loroya Valley, near Madrid *, has the caudal scales more 

 pointed than in one from Mleti. 



In a recent article in Russian, a translation of which I owe to the ever-ready help 

 of my friend Dr. de Bedriaga, Kikolsky accepts Mehely's L. caucasica as a species, and 

 points out the following characters as sufficient to separate it from L. saxicola, which 

 includes the Asiatic varieties mentioned above : — 



Collar denticulate. But he admits that some of his L. saxicola have a feebly denti- 

 culate collar, and that in numerous examples of L. caucasica the character is not 

 particularly well marked, so that he cannot endorse Mehely's expression " grob 

 gezahnelt." 



TJpfer caudal scales pointed behind. This I tind to be often very ill-defined, and 

 Mehely himself admits " bei den Stiicken von Mleti ofters noch schwach." 



Outer ventral plates narroiver than the inner. This supposed difference is not 

 borne out by any of my specimens ; the outer plates are in fact broader in proportion 

 than in a specimen of L. saxicola from the Crimea. 



Dorsal scales strongly convex. Not so in the specimen from Mt. Fatguss. 



Length of tail usually less than twice the distance from the gular fold to the vent. 

 Both the male specimens of which I give measurements would be exceptional. 



Body broader and shorter. This is not borne out by a comparison with certaia 

 individuals from the Crimea, Asia Minor, and Persia. 



Although they may suffice for the justification of a variety, the characters on which 

 L. caucasica rests are too inconstant to warrant specific distinction. 



* Mr. Degen has prepared the skull of one of these specimens, and it shows an incomplete ossifioatioB of 

 the supraocular region as in L. caucasica. 



