LACERTIDAE 553 



as carried out by the children of two thousand years ago, 

 and he sagaciously explains that the beautiful statue of the 

 so-called Apollo Sauroctonos represents a boy who is in the act 

 of noosing the little lizard on the tree. 



Lacerta. — A row of enlarged scales forms a distinct collar 

 across the ventral half of the neck, in front of the chest. The 

 scales on the back are much smaller than those on the tail, which 

 is long, round, and pointed. The digits have smooth, tubercular 

 lamellae on the under surface. Femoral pores are well marked. 

 This genus, with about twenty species, ranges through Europe, 

 Northern and Western Asia, and Africa north of the Equator. 



L. vivipara, the Common English Lizard, has a very wide 

 range, through Northern and Central Europe and Siberia to the 

 Amoor country and the Island of Saghalien. It occurs through- 

 out Great Britain, even in Ireland, where it is the only species 

 of reptile, occurring, for instance, in the County of Meath and in 

 the south-eastern counties, e.g. Waterford. It does not occur 

 south of the Pyrenees or south of the Alps. The supra-ocular 

 and the supraciliary scales are in contact with each other, not 

 being separated by a series of little granules. Normally there is a 

 single postnasal and a single anterior loreal shield. The ventral 

 scales are arranged in six or eight longitudinal series, of which 

 the second series on each side from the median ventral line is the 

 largest. The coloration of this species is subject to much 

 variation. The general colour of the adult is brown or reddish 

 above, with small darker and lighter spots ; many specimens 

 have a blackish vertebral streak and a dark lateral band edged 

 with yellow. The under parts are orange to red in the male, 

 with conspicuous black spots ; yellow or pale orange in the 

 female, either without or with scanty black spots. The newly- 

 born specimens are almost black. The males are slightly smaller 

 than the females ; males of a total length .of 6 inches, and 

 females 7 inches long, may be considered rather large specimens. 



This lizard is, as the specific name implies, viviparous, i.e. the 

 six to twelve young burst the eggs immediately .after they 

 have been laid ; sometimes the mother has to retard the laying, 

 in which case the young are born free. The female does not 

 make a nest, but simply deposits her offspring on the ground 

 and leaves the young to their fate. For the first few days the 

 little ones, which scarcely measure three-quarters of an inch in 



