56 Lacertidse. 



sometimes cousisting of a few large shields, sometimes of small, 

 almost granular scales ;* tympanic often indistinct ; the two upper 

 temporals, of which the first is nearly always much longer than the 

 second, usually less broad, sometimes but narrowly in contact with 

 the fourth supraocular, or even not touching that shield.f Occipital 

 small or very small, sometimes minute. 5 anterior upper labials is 

 very exceptional; 16 to 23 (usually 17 to 20) gular scales; 8 to 13 

 (usually 9 to 12) plates in the collar; 34 to 52 scales across the 

 middle of the body, usually 40 to 49. In some specimens the scales 

 on the vertebral region are much narrower and abruptly differentiated 

 from the dorso-laterals, as in the typical form, whilst in others, often 

 from the same locality, the dorso-laterals are only a little broader than 

 the mid-dorsals, and as this peculiarity is usually accompanied by an 

 increase in the number of scales across the body (45 to 52), the 

 scaling of such specimens does not differ in any way from that of a 

 typical L. viridis. The ventral plates are usually in 6 rows ; if in 8, 

 the outer plates are usually very narrow ; in some specimens the 

 differentiation between the ventral plates and the lateral scales is 

 quite abrupt. 



Preanal pla.te usually smaller than in the typical form (its length 

 equal to or less than its distance from the anterior femoral pores), 

 bordered by two semicircles of scales, two of which in front of the 

 plate are often much enlarged and plate-like,J or even fused to one 

 plate as large as the preanal, as in the type figured by Eichwald. 



Femoral pores rather more numerous, 12 to 18 on each side,§ 

 usually 13 to 16. 



30 to 36 caudal scales in the fourth or fifth whorl. 



Young brown above, constantly with three light, sometimes black- 

 edged, weU-defined light longitudinal streaks; the median begins 

 behind the occipital shield and ends on the base of the tail, the lateral 

 usually from the fourth supraocular to near the end of the tail, or, 

 losing its connexion with the superciliary border, from the outer third 

 of the parietal shield. Three or four whitish lateral streaks or series 

 of whitish black-edged ocellar spots on each side, the two upper 

 originating on the side of the head. 



These markings usually persist in the adult, with the addition of a 



* Male from Altyn Emel and male from lelenovka. 



t In the types of L. paradoxa and in a male from Batum. 



X " Scuta anaUa 1-3," Bedriaga, I.e., 1886. 



§ Up to 20 according to Eathke ; 10 to 16, usually 12 to 15, according to ' 

 CugunoT, who has tabulated the variations in 89 specimens from the Ilanskaia 

 district on the Trans-Siberian EaUway. 



