42 TJacertidas. 



Acanthodactylus vulgaris, vars. belli, atlantica, mauritanica, blanci, 

 Bouleng. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1918, p. 149. 



In the broad sense, A. vulgaris embraces all the individuals combining 

 the following characters : Small dorsal scales, ventral plates much 

 broader than long and in 8 or 10 longitudinal series, strongly keeled 

 upper caudal scales, feebly denticulated digits, and the first and fourth 

 supraoculars more or less broken up into small shields and granules.* 

 Like all Acanthodactyls with an extensive range, it varies considerably, 

 and may be divided into several rather ill-defined geographical forms. 

 In order to avoid confusion, the following description is drawn up 

 exclusively from Spanish and Portugese specimens, which represent 

 the typical A. vulgaris of Dumeril and Bibron. The distinctive features 

 of the varieties, together with the numerical variation shown by the 

 material at my disposal, will be dealt with afterwards. 



Habit rather robust, body moderately elongate, decidedly depressed. t 

 Head 1^ to li times as long as broad, its length 3f to 4 times in 

 length to vent in males, 4 to 4?; times in females, its depth equal to 

 the distance between the anterior corner or the centre of the eye and 

 tympanum ; a lanceolate concavity from the frontonasal to the middle 

 of the frontal ; snout obtusely pointed, as long as the postocular part 

 of the head, with rather sharp canthus and feebly concave loreal 

 region ; nasals feebly swollen. Pileus twice as long as broad. Neck 

 as broad as the head. The hind limb resiches the shoulder or the ear, 

 usually between these two points, in males, the axil or between the 

 shoulder and the ear in females; foot Ij to If times as long as the 

 head ; fourth toe, from the base of the fifth, as long as the head, or a 

 little longer (up to l-i- times), or a trifle shorter. Tail If to 2 times 

 as long as head and body. 



Upper head-shields convex, sometimes rugose in the adult. Suture 

 between the nasals i to J- the length of the frontonasal, which is 

 broader than long, and a little broader than the internarial space ; 

 prefrontals longer than broad and forming a median suture+ ; frontal 



* Scales across middle of body 50 to 72 ; transverse series of ventral plates 

 28 to 33 ; gular scales 21 to 32 ; femoral pores 18 to 30 ; lamellcB under fourth 

 toe 18 to 25. ■ 



t Bedriaga (1889) says " trono . . arrondi ou legerement deprime." 



In specimens in-eserved in spirit the depth of the body is usually 15 to If times 

 in the width, and in life, according' to the same authority (1879), these lizards 

 " platten sich, sobald dor geriii^ste [Sonnen] Strahl in ihreu Kiifig fallt, 

 ganz ab." 



X A small azygos prefrontal in a male froui Ciudad Eeal and in a young 

 from Tabernas de Valldigna, 



