104 Lacertidse. 



Lacerta oeellata, var. tangitana, Bouleng. Cat. Liz. iii, p. 13, pi. iii, 

 fig. 1, Ann. & Mag, N. H. (6), iii, 1889, p. 303, and Tr. Zool. Soc. xiii, 

 1891, p. 124, pi. XV, fig. /; Anders. Proe. Zool. Soc. 1892, p. 13; 

 Doumergue, op. cit. p. 119, pi. viii, figs. 3, 4. 



The North African representatives of L. oeellata, which are grouped 

 together under the name of var. pater, and which earlier authors 

 confounded either with the typical form or with L. viridis,* were first 

 shown by Lataste to constitute an interesting connecting link between 

 these two allied species, and, had he been acquainted with the Moroccan 

 lizards described later as var. tangitana and with the var. major of 

 L. viridis, he could have offered even more forcible arguments in favour 

 of his proposition. As the name pater implies, Lataste considered this 

 annectant form as ancestral to both L. oeellata and L. viridis, though 

 nearer the former ; in the present state of our knowledge, I think it is 

 evident that the latter species is the more primitive and leading through 

 its var. major and this var. pater to the typical L. oeellata. 



This variety has since been raised by Bedriaga to the rank of a 

 species, but I have always held Lataste to have been well advised in 

 treating it as subordinate to L. oeellata, the supposed distinctive 

 characters, even that derived from the size of the occipital shield, being 

 absolutely unreliable. The best characters by which African specimens 

 may be distinguished from the European reside in the frequent absence 

 of the keel limiting the pileus on each side behind the orbitf — a 

 character which cannot, however, be applied to young specimens — and 

 the generally larger size of the gular scales, whatever the age of the 

 individual. 



If we compare specimens from Tangier, on which I bestowed the 

 name var. tangitana, with those from Algiers and eastwards, we find 

 that the former differ in having smaller scales (77 to 98, instead of 

 65 to 85, across the middle of the body) and more numerous femoral 

 pores (17 to 22 on each side, instead of 12 to 17) ; but Doumergne has 

 shown that the two supposed varieties occur promiscuously in the 

 Province of Oran, and specimens from the Atlas of Morocco have 

 further convinced me that the distinction cannot be upheld, the increase 

 in the number of scales and femoral pores from east to west being 

 too gradual, and the two characters not always going hand in hand. 



The proportions! and the head-shields are the same as in the 



* Gervais, 1836, Dumeril and Bibron, 1839. 



t I notice, however, exceptions in specimens from Duirat and Bona. 



J "We must bear in mind that Bedriaga was not acquainted with full-grown 

 specimens, his largest measuring only 110 millim. from snout to vent, which 

 accounts for his statement that the proportions are intermediate between those 

 •of L. viridis and of the typical L. oeellata. 



