VAEIETIES OF THE WALL-LIZAED. 201 



Kessler's description of L. saxicola, which he regarded as a variety of L. muralis, 

 clearly applies to this form *. 



The following features are given as characteristic : — Tail more than twice as long as 

 head and body; collar feebly serrated, of 7 to 9 shields, of which the median is some- 

 times very broad; dorsal scales somewhat elongate and convex, smooth or with hardly 

 visible traces of keels, 40 to 44 across middle of body ; caudal scales much elongate, 

 somewhat pointed behind ; 13 to IG femoral pores. Hind limb reaching nearly the 

 shoulder in males, rarely the elbow in females. Localities : Piatigorsk (Eversmann), 

 Kasbeck, 6400 ft. (Portschinski), between Passanaur and Mleti, Mt. Salavat, near 

 Nucha. 



Nikolsky has described a L. caucasica, var. tenuis, from a single specimen from 

 Lenkoran, distinguished by smaller, more hexagonal scales, smaller scales under the 

 thighs, and tail more than twice as long as head and body. 



A small male from Daghestan, Caucasus, received from the late Dr. Radde in 1904 

 (PL XXIII. fig. 5), appears to represent Mehely's var. gracilis. 



Although the collar is not serrated and the cau.dal scales can hardly be called 

 pointed, its resemblance to the specimens from Mt. Fatguss is so great that I feel loth to 

 separate it from them, even as a variety, until a larger series of specimens demonstrates 

 the constancy of the characters adduced in favour of the distinction. 



Daghestau ... 



I could not have determined this lizard by means of Mehely's key, as the hind limb 

 does not extend beyond the axil. I refer it to L. saxicola gracilis Mehely, on account 

 of the locality and of its describer's statement that it very closely approaches 

 L. caucasica, although placed in a different species. Better than any others, I think, 

 the Caucasian lizards show the fallacy of the modern craze for multiplying species. 



Var. HIEROGLYFHICA. 

 Lacerta hierogJyphica Bertliold, Abli. Ges. Getting, i. 1843, p. 54. 

 Lacerta serpa "Werner, Sitzb. Ak. Wien^ cxi. i. 1902, p. 1083, pi. i. 



A further example of the difficulty of defining races in this polymorphic lizard 

 is offered by the specimens from the islands of the Asiatic coast of the Sea of Marmora, 

 which have been referred by Werner to L. serpa. Apart from more strongly diagonal 

 caudal scales, a character which does not seem of great importance, in view of the 

 range of variation ascertained in the typical L. muralis of Central Europe, this lizard 

 agrees so closely with specimens from South Italy, that I would have referred them to 

 that form had I not been aware of the distant locality whence it was obtained. It also 



* I am indebted to Dr. de Bedriaga for a translation of Kessler's paper, published in Russian. 



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