58 
NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
have seen, formerly, several beautiful green lacerti on the sunny 
sandbanks near Farnham, in Surrey ; and Ray admits there are 
such in Ireland. 
animals has been too generally treated by even profqssed naturalists. I have hardly a doubt but 
that I once obtained a specimen of this lizard when at school in Surrey, but unfortunately gave 
it to a person who has since sold it; as near as 1 can remember, this could not have been less 
than seven or eight inches in length; it was running very rapidly upon the gravel playground. 
This species may be readily told from the common one by having the third toe of the fore foot 
longest, and also by having from twelve to fifteen femoral pores ; whereas in L. agilis the fore 
feet have the fourth toe rather the longest, and the row of pores underneath the thigh usually 
contains nine, sometimes ten, and rarely eleven, less than the minimum of L- shipium. For a 
minute account, however, of its distinctive characters, I must refer the reader to Mr. Jenyns' 
valuable Manual of British Vertebrate Animals, a work which should be in the possession of every 
British naturalist, and from which 1 quote the following, as part of the detailed description of a 
native specimen : " Upper parts dark green, thickly spotted with black ; a broad interrupted 
fascia of dark greenish brown down the middle, containing interrupted lines of yellow spots ; 
under parts light bluish green, with small black spots much less numerous than above.'- As in 
all the genus, however, the markings are very variable, the relative size and form of the scaly 
plates upon the head, and other structural characters, affording by far the best means of distin- 
guishing the different species, for which reason, the naturalist should never be without snecimens 
of L' agilis, preserved in spirits for comparison. 
The green lizard (L. viridis), above mentioned by Mr. White as occurring "on the sunny 
sand-banks near Farnham," is an extremely beautiful species, but has undoubtedlj' been intro- 
duced into the country, many persons having at times turned some loose into their gardens. 
It abounds in various parts of the south of Europe, and is common in the channel islands 
(Jersey, Guernsey, &c.), whence many are annually brought to this country on account of their 
beauty, and where I have myself seen numbers, but was never quick enough to catch one. I 
have long, however, kept them in confinement, and have now before me a very beautiful, live 
specimen, which passes the winter in a lethargic semi-torpid state, refusing sustenance, but 
occasionally lapping up a little water, particularly after being warmed, which soon enlivens it ; 
in the summer it is very quick and active, and subsists on various kinds of insects, and particu- 
larly spiders, of which it is very fond. This species sometimes attains a length of eighteen 
inches, and is of a vivid soft green, more or less marked with light reddish, brown, and blackish 
stripes ; under parts yellow. Its habits, so far as I have observed, are exactly similar to those of 
L- ag-ijis, excepting that it is decidedly less erratic. I have seen, in Jersey, as many as eight or ten 
of them within the space of a few yards, lying basking in the sun, but never far from the entrance 
of their holes, into which they instantly dart on suspicion of danger, their bright colour render- 
ing them extremely conspicuous. They vary mucb in markings, like the other species, and the 
green is more or less vivid according to the period that has elapsed since the last shedding of the 
cuticle. It is not unlikely that other species yet remain to be detected in this country, when the 
attention of our naturalists shall be more generally directed to the subject. Pennant speaks of a 
lizard "which was killed near Woscott, in the parish of Swinford, Worcestershire, in l741,whioJi 
was two feet six inches long, and four inches in girth and adds that " another was killed in 
Penbury, in the same county." It is rather singular, however, that no instance has since been 
recorded of the re-occurrence of so large a species. Mr. Jenyns hints the possibility of these 
being the L- ucellata of southern Europe, a species which, independently of its superior size, may 
be always known by having " the occipital plate very much developed, and at least quite as large 
as either the frontal or parietal plates." L. anguiformis of Sheppard is a doubtful species, from 
that gentleman having principallj' confined himself to noticing the colours, than which nothing 
can be more variable in these reptiles ; it may possibly prove the L- stirpium, with which it at 
least agrees in size, seven inches and upwards being the length assigned to it by its describer. 
One specimen is mentioned to have been upwards of a foot long, *' a length to which," observes 
Mr. Jenyns, " I believe, the common L- agilis never attains." Another species, which may be 
iooi-ed/or> is the L. wiuralis of Latreille, very common on the continent, and apparently closely 
resembling L. agilis, " frgm which, however, it would seem to differ in having the temples 
covered with very small granulated scales, resembling those of the back, in the middle of which 
is one circular plate ; the number of femoral pores is also much greater, varying from eighteen to 
