Lacerta. 165- 



frontals ; frontal usually as long as its distance from the end of the 

 snout, often a little shorter, sometimes a little longer,* usually broader 

 in front than behind, where its width usually equals or is a little less 

 than that of the supraoculars ; parietals 1-^ to If times as long as broad,t 

 usually in contact with the upper postocular,| the outer border never 

 distinctly concave in front for the reception of the anterior upper 

 temporal ; occipital usually shorter than and as broad as or narrower 

 than the interparietal, but sometimes as long and not rarely broader,§ 

 very exceptionally minute or reduced to a granule; a small shield 

 sometimes separates the interparietal from the occipital. Four supra- 

 oculars, first small or very small, 1 1 second as long as or longer than 

 third, fourth small, sometimes divided into two ; 4 to 6 superciliaries, 

 first usually longest and forming an oblique suture with the second ; a 

 series of granules, rarely reduced to as few as five, between the supra- 

 oculars and the superciliaries ; the first or the first and second super- 

 ciliaries usually in contact with the second supraocular, but the series 

 of granules sometimes complete, extending from the first supraocular 

 to the upper postocular. Eostral very rarely entering the nostrillT ; 

 nasal usually separated from the anterior loreal by the postnasal,** 

 which is singlett ; anterior loreal much shorter than second ; four 

 upper labials anterior to the subocular, rarely three or five ; subocular 

 very variable in shape, its lower border usually narrower than the 

 upper, but sometimes quite as long. Temporal scales small, polygonal, 



\ 



* Shortest frontal, measuring only f its distance from end of snout, in a male 

 from St. Malo. Fejerrary (op. cit.) figures the head-shields of a specimen from 

 Bex, Switzerland, in which the frontal is in contact with the first supraocular. 



t In four specimens from Lower Austria the parietal on both sides is 

 completely divided into two by !i. horizontal suture, in six the division is com- 

 plete on one side and incomplete on the other, whilst all the others from the - 

 same district show at least an indication of this aberrant condition, such as 

 is rarely met with in other parts of Europe. A female from Jersey has each 

 parietal completely divided into two. 



t Exceptions, in which the anterior upper temporal is in contact with the' 

 fourth supraocular, in 12 per cent, of the specimens examined by me (France, 

 Austria, Spain). 



§ Posterior border as broad as that of the frontal in a. male from S. of the 

 Abruzzi, in a female from Jersey, in 2 males and 1 female from Villefranche 

 s. M., and in a male from Hernani. 



II Absent in a male from EeichenaU and in a female from VSslau. 



T Male from Fontainebleau and male from Bies G-laoier, near Eanda ; also in- 

 the two specimens from Crete, which I have long hesitated to refer to this form. 



** Exceptions not at all infrequent, 



tt Absent, fused with the anterior loreal, in a male from St. Malo ; divided 

 into two in a female from Paris. 



