312 CHAXXEL ISLAND LIZARDS. 



olive-browii spots, sometimes with black speckling intermixed, 

 but they wear no gold. Later, the pnre white lines become 

 cream-coloured, and are sometimes nearly obscured. The 

 adult coloration of the female is attained during the second 

 year. Only once have I seen a fully grown female that had 

 retained the lines in i)ure white. 



At this stage, which I think is the final one, they are 

 coloured, and marked as I have described under type, 

 or under Var. A. Whether the forms I have distinguished 

 as "type" and Var. B. have undergone a further change, 

 that is to say, have completely lost the white lines, or whether 

 they never developed them, I have not been able to determine, 

 as already stated. Certainly some few specimens never seem 

 quite to reach the white-line stage, but simply show the 

 position of these lines by a very pale green tint. 



No doubt the colouring of Lacerta viridis is protective, 

 for the general effect is a shade of green in harmony with 

 its surroundings, just as the fine olivc-brown and greyish- 

 green mottling and marbling of L. miwalis closely matches the 

 lichens and weathered surfaces of the rocks and boulders of 

 its home. Yet these lizards have no natural enemy in these 

 parts to enforce the persistence of this coloration. Kestrels, 

 which are numerous in the locality I have mentioned, 

 constantly hover over and stoop to moles and voles, but pass 

 unnoticed the lizard-inhabited hillocks : and the eye that can 

 detect a little field-mouse amid clods of earth, must assuredly 

 be able to discern a green Jacerta among its surroundings. 

 The only remaining possible enemies, the owl and the stoat, do 

 not hunt for prey Avliile the lizards are about. Probably 

 therefore it is a coloration which has had under other 

 circumstances its protective use, and which is still retained 

 because there are no new conditions to modify it. Perhaps 

 the retention of the white lines in many females, and their 

 marked display by the half-grown of both sexes may be a 

 tendency to alteration due to immunity. 



Little, if anything, as far as I am aware has been Avritten 

 about the habits of Lacerta viridis^ and yet its Avays are 

 extremely interesting to anyone who may have time, taste and 

 opportunity for observing them. 



During the heat oF the day this beautiful lizard does 

 not manifest much energy. It is content to bask and 

 blink in the sunshine, lying perfectly motionless, except 

 perhaps now and then moving its head as some slight sound 

 close by suggests perchance a caterpillar that has dropped 

 from its perch, or an unwary grasshopper coming within 



