Group V i 



Lacerta. 177 



r 24. var. hreviceps, Blgr., p. 271. 



25. „ horvatJii, Mehely,* p. 273. 



26. „ caucasica, Mehely,* p. 275. 



27. „ chalyhdea, Eichw., p. 278. 



28. ,, saxicola, Eversm.,* p. 282. 



29. „ portschinsJcii, Kessl., p. 286. 



30. „ defilippii. Gamer., p. 288. 



31. „ rudis, Bedr., p. 290. 



The varieties marked * are held to be entitled to specific rank by 

 the most recent -vsTiters on the subject, L. von Mehely or E. Schreiber. 



I have given photographic figures of a considerable number of 

 specimens belonging to the various varieties, arranged in geographical 

 order, in my papers in the Transactions of the Zoological Society, 

 vols, xvii, 1905, and xx, 1913. However much opinions may difEer 

 as to the systematic arrangement of these lizards, I trust these figures 

 will prove of lasting value to those who are not able to refer to the 

 originals, mostly preserved in the British Museum. 



On the subject of the rank to be assigned to the various forms 

 here included under L. muralis, cf. Mehely, Ann. Mus. Hung, v, 1907, 

 pp. 84, 469, and vii, 1909, p. 247 ; Bouleng. Ann. & Mag. N. H. (7), 

 XX, 1907, p. 39, and (8), v, 1910, p. 247; Dehaut, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 

 xxxvi, 1911, p. 8 ; Bernard!, Mon. Zool. Ital. xxiii, 1912, p. 226. 



GrEoxjp I. — East Coast and Islands of the Adriatic, Italy, Corsica, 

 Sicily, and Coasts of the Sea of Marmora. 



This first group may be described as filling up the gap between 

 L. taurica and the typical L. muralis. It consists mainly of forms 

 which Eimer would have classified as pyrwmidocepali striatse and 

 punctato-striatse, reticulata being the exception. Green is the pre- 

 vailing colour of the upper parts. 



The most primitive form, var. campestris, passes gradually on the 

 one hand into the var. fiumana, which approaches the typical form 

 and of which the vars. lissana and melisellensis are insular derivatives, 

 on the other hand into the var. albiventris. The Sicilian var. serpa 

 resembles the var. fiumana — no doubt a case of parallel modification 

 from a common ancestor, probably the var. campestris, whilst the 

 oriental var. hieroglyphica is almost identical with the var. albiventris, 

 although so far removed from it geographically. 



It is quite impossible to give rigid comparative diagnoses of these 

 forms, so closely do they intergrade, but the following synopsis will 

 suffice in most cases for their correct identification when several 



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