A contribution to our knowledge of the varieties of the wall-lizard (Lacerta muralis) in Western Europe and North Africa . Jhis would apply equally well to var. nigriventris and to var. serpa. The head is onceand two-thirds as long as broad and its depth equals the distance between the centre of LACERTA MUEALTS IN WESTERN EUROPE AND NORTH AEEICA. 599 the eye and the tympanuia. The hind limb extends to midway between the coUarand the ear; the foot measures once and one-third the length of the head. The scaleson the back are granular, oval-hexagonal, distinctly keeled; 3 and 4 transverse seriesc
A contribution to our knowledge of the varieties of the wall-lizard (Lacerta muralis) in Western Europe and North Africa . Jhis would apply equally well to var. nigriventris and to var. serpa. The head is onceand two-thirds as long as broad and its depth equals the distance between the centre of LACERTA MUEALTS IN WESTERN EUROPE AND NORTH AEEICA. 599 the eye and the tympanuia. The hind limb extends to midway between the coUarand the ear; the foot measures once and one-third the length of the head. The scaleson the back are granular, oval-hexagonal, distinctly keeled; 3 and 4 transverse seriescorrespond to one ventral plate, and 45 to the length of the head. The body and the limbs are olive above (in spirit) with black spots forming a wide-meshed network; no distinct ocellar spot above the axil; the head is much spottedwith black above, and a black streak runs along the sides, passing through the eye andabove the tympanum, and continued on the neck; tail with blackish transverse bandswith sharply defined white spots on the sides. The throat and belly are greyish white, with small black spots. Text-fig. a. h. c. d. e. Yuung specimeus of:—a, f. tiiiiica, Courmayeur, Piedmont; h^ var. ni(/riventris, Home; c, var. campestris, Turin; (7, var. serpa, Pompeii; e, var. scrpa, Messiua. v.—Mx\LTA. (Plate XXVIl.) The Wall-Lizard of INIalta has been identified by Bedriaga and myself with theSicilian and South-Italian form (var. serpa), by Camerano with the typical form, whileEimer regards it as intermediate between the two. I regard Eimers view asperfectly correct if size and coloration alone are taken into consideration, but thescaling is decidedly that of var. serpa. Eimer, Arch, f Nat. 1881, p. 370, who has observed the lizard in Malta, remarks asfollows:— It is remarkably small for a Southern form, not larger than the Corsican [], which is not much larger than the German. Besides, it is platijcephalous[like the typical form] and belongs to the reti
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidcontri, booksubjectlizards
