Lacerta. 45 



light line bordering the dark vertebral band, which widens towards 

 the occiput. 



In other young, from Baden and Basle, we find a tendency for the 

 lateral ocelli to multiply and to lose their regular arrangement, as is 

 frequently the case in adult males. 



The three light dorsal streaks or series of spots evidently correspond 

 to the better defined streaks of the young of the var. exigua, but the 

 outer, bordering the dark dorsal band, have become disconnected from 

 the superciliary streak. In some cases, however, as has been stated 

 above, the connexion has persisted. That the dark dorsal and lateral 

 bands represent the same in L. vivipara and L. tmiralis is beyond 

 question. 



This explanation is necessary, as at first sight one might be embar- 

 rassed in homologizing the markings with those of, say, L. muralis, 

 var. campestris or var. fiumana, in which a dark vertebral band is 

 bordered on each side by a Ught streak which appears to correspond to 

 that in the same position in i. agilis, but which the above evidence 

 shows to have been lost in most specimens of the typical form of this 

 species ; there are, however, exceptions, in which the five original light 

 streaks are represented by as many series of white dots.* 



In the adult the dark borders of the ocelli usually expand into large 

 spots (var. annulata, Werner), often squarish in shape, and other 

 spots may be added and so crowded as to cover the greater part of the 

 dark dorsal band of the young, which may be edged with black, and 

 the same may take place on the sides ; the lighter ground-colour 

 between the bands may then be reduced to a narrow streak along each 

 side of the back. Sometimes the dark markings are confluent into a 

 vertebral stripe, with or without light spots. The whitish eyes of the 

 ocelli or the light dorsal streaks usually persist as central spots or 

 short lines in one, three, or five longitudinal series on the dark vertebral 

 band. The sides bear three or four longitudinal series of black and 

 white ocelli, the upper being the largest and composed of 10 to 15 ocelli 

 from behind the ear to above the hind limb. The ocellar spots are 

 sometimes arranged irregularly or with a tendency to a transverse 

 instead of a longitudinal disposition, but however irregular they may 

 appear, there are never more than five white eyes in a transverse 

 series on the back (the remains of the five original light streaks) and 

 four on each side ; this is important to note. In males the lateral 

 ocelli may totally disappear and be replaced by crowded black dots 

 (var. dorsalis, Werner) . It would be endless to further enumerate the 



* In connexion with these remarks I must observe that I regard Werner's 

 diagrammatic figures 58 and 59 in Zool. Jahrb., Syst. vi, 1892, pi. ix, as incorrect. 



