LACERTA OXYCEPHALA. 191 



Entire length, 9 inches ; tail, 6 inches. 



This Lizard, according to the ' Erpetologie Generale,' is 

 spread over nearly all Europe and the "Western regions of 

 Asia. All over Italy, Sicily, and the South of France, as 

 well as most other parts of that country. Common in 

 Switzerland and Belgium, where it is more numerous than 

 any other species. In the Eaunas, however, of Silesia, 

 Carniola, Gallieia, and the Bukovina, there is no mention 

 made of it. 



Lacerta oxyceplmla. 



Lacerta om/cephala, Dum. et Bib. toI. v. p. 235 ; Schisz, Europ. Faun. 



vol. ii. p. 17. 

 Podarcis oxycephala, Buon. Faun. Ital. (figured). 



Description. — This Lizard, which is closely allied to the 

 preceding species, differs from it by the greater depression 

 of the head, the greater length and sharpness of the snout, 

 and by the distinctly smaller size of the scales of its collar ; 

 the plates below the eyes also, which in the L. muralis 

 are sharply angular in front, are here of a regularly oval 

 form. In this species the central plate of the temple is 

 very small, scarcely as large again as the others of that 

 region, which are convex and nearly round; the naso- 

 frenal plate is sometimes divided lengthwise ; the occipital 

 is narrower than the frontal ; the palate is without teeth ; 

 the dorsal scales are oval and slightly convex ; ventral 

 plates in six rows ; the upper parts are tinged with red- 

 brown, olive-green, or blue; a kind of brown network 

 with rounded interstices covers the neck, back, and flanks ; 

 the top of the head, sides of the belly, chest, and legs are 

 sometimes speckled with black ; all the lower parts of the 

 body are greenish white. In the young animal the net- 

 work of the back is indistinct. 



Entire length, nearly 8 inches ; tail, 4£ inches. 



