. The life-history of British lizards and their local distribution in the British Isles. AAAAAA/\AA/NAAAAAAA Fracture. No fracture. Fracture. No fracture. Fracture. No fracture. Fracture, and so on. Fig. 2. lizard they are large and elongated. When I pro-ceeded to confirm the results above described, byfracturing the tail in green lizards, it was found thatthese caudal scales have a definite position with regardto the muscles. One naturally expected that thefracture took place between two rows of scales, notacross a row, but I was not prepared to find that itoccurred at definite intervals of s
. The life-history of British lizards and their local distribution in the British Isles. AAAAAA/\AA/NAAAAAAA Fracture. No fracture. Fracture. No fracture. Fracture. No fracture. Fracture, and so on. Fig. 2. lizard they are large and elongated. When I pro-ceeded to confirm the results above described, byfracturing the tail in green lizards, it was found thatthese caudal scales have a definite position with regardto the muscles. One naturally expected that thefracture took place between two rows of scales, notacross a row, but I was not prepared to find that itoccurred at definite intervals of scales, and only atthose intervals. But, of course, it simply is that a 112 BRITISH LIZARDS certain number of scales correspond to each muscle-length, and that number, as a matter of fact, is length of two scales is the length of one muscle,so that the fracture is found to occur at intervalsof two scales. One cannot make the tail fracture atthe end of the scale next to that which covered thetermination of a previous fracture. The diagram onp. Ill may explain this more Fig. 3. -Section of Tail, Lacerta viridis (diagrammatic). SC is spinal cord. C is centrum of 1, D 2, are positions of the two dorsal , V 3, „ „ „ ventral muscles. L 1, 2, 3, U, „ „ four lateral muscles. iV^ofc—There are three partitions on each side, the ventral one on each sideholds two muscles, a ventral and a lateral muscle. There is thus a very well-marked metameric seg-mentation in the tail of these lizards, each segmentbeing marked externally by the interval between everysecond scale, though no differentiation is as in the case of the slow-worm, so in thegreen lizard, if the skin be dissected off a part that isfractured, the muscles come off with it, and presentthe same arrangement seen before. The caudal ver- FRAGILITY OF THE TAIL IN LIZARDS 113 tebrae are left intact, or may be so left, and thereis seen a number of fibrous septa running from t
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