LACERTA MURALIS IN WESTERN EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA. 



Text-fig. 4. 



569 



d. 



e. 



Young specimens of : — a, f. typica, Arnao, Asturias ; b, var. hocagei, Madrid ; c, var. liolepis, Valencia ; 

 d, var. moniicola, Spain ; e, var. hispanica, Almeria. 



III.— BALEAKIC ISLANDS. 

 (Plates XXIII. & XXVI.) 



A good example of the neglect of the lepidosis in defining races of the Wall-Lizard, 

 of which I have complained above, is offered by the lizards inhabiting the Balearic 

 Islands. Although the form and coloration have been described by Bedriaga and by 

 Bosca, the difference in scaling by which the Iviza lizard can be sharply separated 

 from the so-called varieties inhabiting the two more eastward islands has hitherto 

 entirely escaped attention. Yet, with the help of these characters, the Balearic lizards 

 stand out as the best-definable of all the subspecies or varieties which have been 

 included under Lacerta muralis, and certainly have stronger claims to specific separation 

 than have L. ledriagw and L. depressa. 



But, then, it is necessary to entirely put aside the colour — whether brown, yellow, 

 green, or black — and to place together, as var. pityusensis Bosca, the Iviza specimens 

 referred by Bosca, to vars. balearica and pityusensis, and to group under the older name 

 of var. lilfordi Gthr. all the lizards fruni Majorca, Minorca, and neighbouring islands, 

 which have been described by Bedriaga as vars. balearica, gigliolii, and Ulfordi, the 

 numbers of the scales counted across the middle of the body (55 to 68 in the former, 

 70 to 90 in the latter) being sufficient for their discrimination. The important fact 

 that in the Iviza lizards the rostral shield constantly enters the nostril, as only 

 exceptionally happens in other forms of L. muralis, affords a diagnostic character by 

 which to separate them from those of Spain, which agree in the number of scales 

 across the body. 



3c2 



