208 Lacertidie. 



Var. HIEEOaLYPHICA. 



Lacerta MeroglypMca, Berthold, Abh. G-es. G-otting. i, 1843, p. 54. 



Lacerta muralis, var. neapolitana, Bedriaga, Bull. Soc. Zool. Prance,. 

 1879, p. 206. 



Lacerta serpa, Werner, Sitzb. Ak. Wien, cxi, i, 1902, p. 1082, pi. L 



Lacerta muralis, var. MeroglypMca, Bouleng. Tr. Zool. Soc. xx, 1913, 

 p. 201, pi. xxi, figs. 4, 5. 



A further example of the difficulty of defining races in this poly- 

 morphic lizard is ofEered by the specimens from the islands of the 

 Asiatic coast of the Sea of Marmora, which have been referred by 

 Werner to L. serpa. Apart from more strongly diagonal caudal scales, 

 a character which does not seem of great importance, in view of the 

 range of variation ascertained in the typical L. muralis of Central 

 Europe,* this lizard agrees so closely with specimens of the var. albi- 

 ventris from South Italy that I would have referred it to that form 

 had I not been aware of the distant localities whence it was obtained. 

 It also bears a strong resemblance to the var. tiliguerta. The two 

 female specimens kindly entrusted to me by Dr. Werner show the 

 following size and scaling (columns as on p. 175) : 



1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 



Oxia . .? 65 68 29 11 28 22-21 32 



Platia. . . „ 62 71 28 9 28 22 30 



Head flat above, its depth equalling the distance between the centre 

 of the eye and the anterior border of the eye, its length once and a 

 half or once and two thirds its width ; snout pointed, as long as the 

 postocular part of the head. The hind limb reaches the shoulder; 

 foot once and one third or once and two fifths the length of the head. 

 Tail nearly twice as long as head and body. 



Eostral not entering the nostril ; frontal nearly as long as its distance 

 from the end of the snout ; series of granules between the superciliaries 

 and the supraoculars incomplete, the first, or first and second super- 

 ciliaries in contact with the second supraocular ; parietals once and one 

 third as long as broad, in contact with the upper postocular ; occipital 

 a little shorter and a little broader than the interparietal ; temporal 

 scales granular, with a moderately large masseteric shield; upper 

 temporal shields small (3 to 6) ; four anterior upper labials in the 

 specimen from Oxia, five in that from Platia. 



* Even in tlie var. alhiveniris, specimens with oblique, diagonally keeled 

 caudal scales are oocasionally met with, the character best marked in a female 

 rom Monte Gargano, thus still further reducing its diagnostic value. 



