Lacerta. 179 



(usually 20 to 26) ; 25 to 36 lamellar scales under the fourth toe 

 (usually 28 to 33) ; head 3^ to 4 times in length to vent in males ; 

 hind limb reaching shoulder, collar, or between collar and ear in 

 males ; ventral plates of the two median rows often as broad, in the 

 middle of the body, as those of the adjacent rows. Size often large, 

 up to 90 millim. — Dalmatia, Islands of the Adriatic, South Italy. 



Var. hieroglypMca, Berth. Rostral not touching the nostril ; 61 to 

 71 scales across the body ; 21 to 26 femoral pores ; 30 to 35 lamellar 

 scales under the fourth toe ; often 5 upper labials anterior to the sub- 

 ocular ; upper caudal scales very diagonal to the keel ; head 3|- to 

 4 times in length to vent in males ; hind limb reaching collar or 

 a little beyond in males. From snout to vent 60 to 80 millim. — 

 Coasts of the Sea of Marmora. 



I have expressed the opinion * that this group of varieties is derived 

 from primitive forms of which the Eastern species L. taurica and 

 L. peloponnesiaca are the living representatives, and that a Western 

 branch, represented by L. campestris and L. fiumana, has terminated 

 in L. serpa (sicula). It is not impossible that L. alhiventris, 

 which is so completely connected with L. campestris, may have 

 originated in Italy as a cross between the latter and the southern 

 variety of the typical L. muralis (var. brueggemanni), and, passing 

 across the Adriatic, has agaiii extended to the east (L. hieroglyphics). 

 It seems difficult to imagine two forms so similar as L. alhiventris and 

 L. hieroglyphica having originated independently, and to fancy the 

 former derived from the latter would not be in accordance with 

 the principles that have guided me in estimating the value of the 

 morphological characters from the phyletic point of view. 



Var. PIUMANA. 



Lacerta muralis, var. neapolitana, subvar. a, part., Bedriaga, Bull. 

 Soc. Zool. France, 1879, p. 202, pi. ix, fig. 5. 



Lacerta muralis punctato-striata, Eimer, Arch, f, Nat. 1881, p. 340, 

 pi. xiii, figs. 4 and 5. 



Lacerta muralis neapolitana, subvars. a et e, part., Bedriaga, Abh. 

 Senck. Ges. xiv, 1886, pp. 221, 226. 



Lacerta muralis neapolitana, Yars. fiumana, olivacea, part., et striata, 

 Werner, Verh. Zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, xli, 1891, p. 753, and Eept. 

 Amph. Oesterr.-Ung. p. 42 (1897). 



Lacerta muralis, vars. campestris et olivacea, Tomasini, Wiss. Mitth. 

 JBosn. Herzeg. ii, 1894, p. 570. 



* C.R. Ac. Sci. Paris, clxiv, 1917, p. 803. 



