384 ME. G. A. BOULENGEE ON THE VAEIETIES OF 



small scales (65 across the middle of the body) is a further approximation to the 

 Corsican-Sardinian form. Camerano has already pointed out that some of the Ligurian 

 specimens examined by him, with a much flattened head and reticulate markings, are 

 suggestive of the var. bedriagm from the mountains of Corsica. I am much inclined 

 to think that the vars. quadrilineata and bedriagce are directly derived from the 

 var. brueggemanni l . I may add that quite young specimens from Lerici, which I 

 provisionally refer to this variety, lack the dorsal reticulation and the ventral spots, and 

 cannot be distinguished from French specimens of similar size. 



Var. NIGRIVENTRIS. 

 Podarcis muralis, var. nigriventris Bonaparte, Icon. Faun. I tab, Anfib. pi. — . fig. b (1836). 

 Lacerta muralis neopolitana, var. nigriventris Bedriaga, Arch. f. Nat. 1879, p. 277, and Abh. Senck. 



Ges. xiv. 1886, p. 213. 

 Lacerta muralis fusca, var. nigriventris Bedriaga, Arch. f. Nat. 1879, p. 288, pi. svii. fig. 3. 

 Lacerta muralis neapulitana, var. ventromaculata Bedriaga, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1879, p. 205. 

 Lacerta muralis, var. flaviundata Bedriaga, 1. c. p. 218. 



Under this name Bonaparte has figured a Wall-Lizard, from Rome, measuring 

 210 millim., which has been regarded by Bedriaga as a variety of his subspecies 

 neapolitana, on account of its large size and the green colour of the spots which appear 

 between the meshes of the black network. Similar lizards occur, according to Bedriaga, 

 at Arezzo in Tuscany, in the Roman Campagna, on a rocky islet, La Scuola di Pianosa, 

 close to Pianosa, in the Adriatic, and on Palmajola and Salina, Lipari Islands. 



In describing his L. muralis fusca, var. nigriventris, from Rome, Bedriaga distinctly 

 disclaimed any identification with Bonaparte's var. nigriventris, and he soon after altered 

 the name to flaviundata. This variety is described, from a single male specimen (now 

 in the British Museum), as deep black above, with numerous golden-yellow wavy cross- 

 streaks : the white ground-colour of the belly to a great extent disappears under the 

 large black spots ; the ventral shields of the outer row are green. On comparing the 

 figure with that given by him of L. brueggemanni on the same plate, a striking resem- 

 blance in form and markings will be observed between the two lizards, the chief 

 difference being that the black is more developed in var. flaviundata and the green 

 colour is replaced by yellow. 



I owe to the kindness of my friend Dom Gregoire Fournier, O.S.B., an interesting 



little series of these black lizards collected by Dom Theodore Neve, O.S.B., on the outer 



walls of Rome, near St. Peter's, and the series is of importance as completely bridging 



over the gap between the var. flaviundata and the var. nigriventris, which are seen to 



represent merely individual differences. The specimens reached me quite fresh, and 



1 Since this paper was set up in type, I have received from Prof. Camerano a male specimen from Pianosa, 

 which may well be regarded as intermediate between the vars. brueggemanni and bedriagce. It has 70 scales 

 across the body. Specimens from Elba, communicated to me by Count Peracca, are true var. brueggemanni 

 with 58 to 65 scales across the body. 



