OCR Text |
Show 1892.] AND BATRACHIANS FROM BARBARY. 13 Brit. Mus. 1S87, vol. hi. p. 13, pi. iii. fig. 1 ; et loc. cit. p. 124. 1 young, Tlemgen, Province of Oran. This variety was founded by Mr. Boulenger for the reception of some lizards from Tangier, very nearly allied to the previous variety, but differing from it and from L. ocellata typica in their much smaller dorsal scales, numbering from 77 to 100 across the middle of the body, and in their more numerous (17-21) femoral pores. On the other hand, in their smaller occipital and in the number (6-8) of the longitudinal rows of ventral scales, they manifest, as pointed out by Mr. Boulenger, marked affinities to the Spanish-Portuguese form of L. viridis, the var. schreiberi, Bedriaga, and so closely do they resemble it in these two respects that they are undistinguishable from it. Until the discovery of these specimens from Tangier, L. ocellata and L. viridis were unknown from Morocco. It is interesting therefore to find the Morocco variety occurring at Tlemgen, but not surprising, considering the proximity of this locality to Morocco. This specimen, however, presents one variation by which it can be distinguished from all the examples of var. tanyitana in the British Museum, and that is, that the shields along the collar are much more numerous, being 22, whereas in yass. pater and tangitana there are only 10 or 11 shields. This is not at all likely to be an individual variation, and hence it is interesting to find the outlying members of the variety so modified. The specimen in question is unfortunately young, as it measures only 47 millim. from the snout to the vent, but in all its other characters it resembles var. tangitana. The dorsal scales are very small, and number 87 across the middle of the bodv ; there are 18 femoral pores, 8 longitudinal rows of scales on the belly, and the occipital shield is decidedly narrower than the interparietal, all distinctive features of L. ocellata, var. tangitana. 8. LACERTA MURALIS, Laurenti; Boulenger, loc. cit. p. 125. 3 c* & 3 2 J Tlemgen, Province of Oran. These lizards resemble the specimens of this species from Tangier described by Mr. Boulenger as having the scales very small, obtusely keeled and in 61 to 73 rows across the middle of the body, but in some of them they fall to 56. Their upper caudal scales are also strongly keeled as in specimens from Tangier. The femoral pores vary from 17 to 21, whereas in examples from the latter district they vary from 13 to 19, 17 being the usual number. One of the above males is coloured exactly like the specimens from Tangier in the British Museum, but another and two females are less spotted with black, and the white spots on the tail, so marked in Tangier specimens, are absent, or only feebly indicated. 9. LACERTA PERSPICILLATA, Dum. & Bibr.; Boulenger, loc. cit. p. 126. 2 c? > Santa Cruz, Oran. In these specimens there are 56 and 60 scales across the middle |