i6o 
LIZARDS. 
pressed toes have either smooth, tuberculated, or indistinctly keeled pads on the lower 
surface, while the thighs have pores. In common with several other genera, the 
nostrils are placed close to the so-called labial scales, from which they are separated 
at most by a narrow rim; and if there be a transparent disc in the lower eyelid, 
it is smaller than the eye. Among the most beautifully coloured members of 
the suborder the pearly lizard, which attains a length of from 16 to 23 inches, 
claims a foremost place. Belonging to a large group of the genus, in which the 
edge of the throat-collar is strongly serrated, this species agrees with certain other 
members of the genus in its smooth tail, and in the scales on the sides of the body 
not being smaller than those on the back. As special characters of the species, it 
may be noted that the scales are smaller than in the allied forms; and that there 
are not less than seventy scales round the middle of the body, eight or ten of which 
belong to the under surface. The head is very large in the male, and characterised 
by the great width of its hindmost, or occipital, median shield. In colour, the 
upper-parts are either green, with black dots or network, or blackish olive with 
yellowish netting; the sides are marked with a row of about a dozen eye-like blue 
spots; while the under surface is uniform greenish yellow. The olive-coloured 
young are, however, dotted all over with white, or pearly-blue, black-edged spots. 
Common in Spain, and also occurring in the south of France and North- 
Western Italy, or wherever the olive-tree grows, the pearly lizard is generally to 
be met with in the neighbourhood of hollow trees, frequently ascending some 
distance up their trunks, or even climbing among the branches. The males are 
somewhat quarrelsome, and the females lay from six to ten eggs, generally 
deposited in a hollow olive-tree. 
Another well - known European species is the green lizard 
Green. Lizard. . . . # x ° 
( L . viridis), attaining a length of about 12 inches in Germany, but 
in the more southern portions of its habitat measuring as much as 17 inches; 
fully two-thirds of this length being occupied by the long tail. Having not more 
than sixty-six scales round the middle of the body, this lizard is distinguished by 
the general presence of two small superimposed scales behind each nostril, the 
small size and triangular form of the occipital shield, and the arrangement of the 
abdominal scales in six longitudinal rows; the collar being serrated. Usually the 
nostrils are in contact with the front or rostral shield of the head; and in the 
female and young the foot is longer than the head. As regards colour, the males, 
which may be distinguished from the females by the larger and higher head, the 
thickened root of the tail, stouter hind-limbs, and generally superior size, are some 
shade of green-olive, passing below into yellow. Black dots, passing into large 
spots, generally adorn the upper surface, whereas the under-parts, save for a blue 
patch on the chin and throat, are uniform. The females, in which the blue on the 
throat is less constantly present, have a more brownish tinge, with the sides 
ornamented with black-bordered yellowish spots. The young are generally leather- 
brown in colour, with one or two yellow side-stripes. Both sexes vary, however, 
considerably according to age ; and southern specimens are more brilliantly coloured 
than those from the north. 
The green lizard is an inhabitant of the countries lying to the east and north 
of the Mediterranean, and thence extending eastwards to Persia. Very common in 
