File:The life-history of British lizards - and their local distribution in the British Isles (1903) (14596462957).jpg

Identifier: lifehistoryof00leig (find matches)
Title: The life-history of British lizards : and their local distribution in the British Isles
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Leighton, Gerald (Gerald Rowley), b. 1868
Subjects: Lizards Reptiles
Publisher: Edinburgh : George A. Morton London : Simpkin, Marshall
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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eature. The average size of theadult may be put at 12 to 15 inches, though a goodnumber of specimens exceed this measurement. Themales, as in most other lizards, are larger than thefemales, very large males reaching a length of 16 or17 inches. Here again, the observer must be careful tosee whether the tail is intact before coming to a con-clusion as to the total length, for the tail is responsiblefor the greater part of the total length, almost three-quarters of it in very long males. The predominating colour, as the name implies, isgreen. This is particularly upon the upper surface,and therefore the colour most readily seen. It shadesoff into yellow on the belly, the intermediate part, orthe lateral aspect, being greenish yellow. Other colours are found in special parts of the body.If the specimen be a male in the breeding season, thethroat will exhibit a bluish tinge. The prevailinggreen of the back will often be mottled with blackspecks, or yellow spots. Often, too, a decided brown
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THE GREEN LIZARD, LACERTA VIRIDIS 73 colour will be noticed. As in other reptiles, age has aninfluence on the colouring. In this species it affects•specially the stripes on the sides, which in the you^gones are yellow. These disappear in the older males,but are persistent in some of the adult females. There is a distinct semicircular collar on the neck.The eyelids are prominent, the head flattened, andthe snout rather pointed. The post-nasal shields aregenerally two in number, one overlapping the other.The head shields are large, the scales on the backsmall, the ventral scales in longitudinal rows, thescales on the tail elongated and hexagonal, againarranged in annular fashion. The transition from thesmall body scales to the long hexagonal tail scalesis abrupt, and the tail very gradually tapers to avery fine point. These characters can be made out inthe illustrations, and the several species may be com-pared to show their respective prominence. Haunts and Habits. — Since it is on

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