Lacerta. 10.5 



typical form, except that the digits are as a rule a little more slender, 

 that the tail may be 2f times the length of head and body, that the 

 frontonasal is often a little broader,* the frontoparietals are not or but 

 little longer than the frontal and the interparietal is sometimes a little 

 longer than the occipital ; special allusion must be made to the size of 

 the occipital, which was described by Lataste as intermfediate between 

 that of L. viridis and that of L. ocellata. Leaving aside young speci- 

 mens, in which the shield is shorter in proportion and sometimes twice 

 as broad as long, the smallest occipital is found in specimens from 

 Batna and Tangier, in which it may be a little longer than broad, 

 scarcely larger than the interparietal, and much narrower than the 

 frontal ; in other specimens from Tunisia, Algeria, and Tangier its 

 width may equal that of the frontal, and in those from the Atlas of 

 Morocco it is as broad as the frontal, or narrower, or broader, as may 

 be seen from the table on p. 108, wliich shows that the comparative 

 width between the two shields may be exactly the same as in the 

 typical form, in which, however, the occipital is larger on an average. 



The first loreal is nearly always in contact with the frontonasalt ; 

 4 or 5 superciliaries, exceptionally 3 or 6 ; the granules between the 

 supraoculars and the superciliaries usually form an incomplete series 

 and are sometimes reduced to 4 or 5J. Exceptionally 3§ or 5|| anterior 

 upper labials. 28 to 55 temporal shields. 



The three anterior chin-shields constantly in contact in the middle. 

 22 to 31 gular scales in a median longitudinal series, usually 24 to 29. 

 9 to 15 plates in the collar.Tf 



Scales round or oval-subrhombic or subhexagonal and longer than 



* Sometimes longitudinally divided (several specimens from Tunis, Setif, 

 Tlemsen, and Fenzou). 3 shields, forming a triangle, in a specimen from 

 Duirat and in another from Algiers. In a young from Tangier it is in contact 

 with the rostral ; in another from Fenzou it is in contact with the frontal. 

 An azygos prefrontal is sometimes present (young from Ain Drahan and 

 JPenzou). 



t In a half-grown specimen from Seksawa, and in a young from Tangier, the 

 upper postnasal is in contact with the prefrontal, and it is so on one side in 

 single young specimens from Seksawa, Bona and Lambesa. In a young from 

 , Tangier the lower postnasal is fused with the anterior loreal. Two super- 

 posed anterior loreals in a female and in two young from Fenzou ; in a female 

 from Batna the anterior loreal is reduced to its lower half, which forms a, 

 triangle with the two postnasals. 



J Or even 2 or 3, according to Bedriaga. 



§ On one side in a female from Fenzou. 



II In a female from N. of Biskra, in two young from Fenzou. 



1 The young specimen from Tlemsen with 21 plates must be regarded as an 

 individual anomaly. 



