!

they lived for about a year. Some individuals did not live so long and a
partial metamorphosistook place before they died. There was shrinkage
of the gills, the gular fold disappeared and the palatal teeth extended
posteriorly and became slightly divergent. The tail increasedin length and
diminished in depth. The coloration became lighter and the markings
more pronounced (fig. 3). In spite of these changes the newts from Lake
Bukumirsko were always easily recognisablefrom the typical form. I did
not observe complete metamorphosis in any individual. Female nervts kept
during the winter in the aquarium laid eggsin May and June, 1950. Unfortunately there were no males with them.
The factors producing neoteny in this lake are not known. Altitude
alone cannot be the cause as I have found normally metamorphosing
colonies of newts in lakes at greater height (2,000 metres) in Montenegro,
Bosnia and Macedonia. The water of Lake Bukumirsko is not particularly
cold. There are lakes in the country with lower temperatures. At the
end of Jrly, 1950, after a long hot spell the temperature of the water rose
to 22oC. and I thought then that the gills of the newts appeared to be
reduced in size. On the other hand, in specimenskept in the aquarium
with water at higher temperatures there was no reduction in the size of
the gills. The chemical compositionof the water according to Dr. Bdttcher
representsnothing unusual and does not differ from that of other mountain
lakes in Yugoslavia.
RBrsRrNcss
Seliskar, A. and Pehani, H. (1935). Limnologische BeitrSge zum Problem der
Verh.
Amphibienneotenie.
Beobachtungen an Tritonen der Triglavseene.
int. Vereinig. Limnol. Beograd. 7, t, 263-271.
Werner, F. (1902). Eine Neue Varietdt des Alpenmolches aus Bosnia: Molge
alpesuis var. reiseri. Verh. zool. bot. Ges, Wien, 52, 7-9.

A PROPOSED STANDARD SYSTEM OF COUNTING

VENTRALS IN SI{AKES

lr
lr

By
HnnnooN G. DowuNc
Uniuersity of Michigall. Museum of /oology, Ann Arbor, Michigan
The use of the ventral count as an item in the identification of snakes
dates back to pre-Linnaean times. Several standard systems of counting
ventrals have been proposed, but none of these has attained full acceptance,
due to their subjective or other objectionable features.
The posterior end of the ventral count is easily defined; ventrals are
usually counted to, but not including, the anal plate. It is the anterior
end of the count that is the more difficult to determine.Thompson (1914 , p.
380) defined the anterior end of his ventral counts as beginning with "the

97

first . . one that is nearly the standard width; it is frequently distinguished

by having a colour similar to the rest of the ventrals and not white or
cream like the throat." Most other workers, both before and since, have
been less specific, or have failed even to indicate the method of counting.
Schmidt and Davis (1941 : p. 26) recommendedstarting the count with the
"first one distinctly wider than long." Other workers have used the "first
enlarged plate," and still others the first one "definitely enlarged to form
a ventral scute." A considerable amount of subjective judgment enters
into all of these methods, and certain of them carry other disadvantagesas
well. For example, using the definition of "distinctly wider than long"
adds the variation of divided or undivided gulars to the variation of added
or subtracted ventrals and gives a false indication of the extent of variation in ventral number. The method presented below is an attempt to
eliminate these disadvantages.

a
|.

il

il
FIG. 1.

Ventral side of head of Elaphe

subocularis (Brown) showing
the first row of dorsals
( stippled ) and the first

rines)as
i:i,l':: h!',bJin""

When the ventral surface of a snake is observed, it will be noted that

the first row of dorsals (by definition) borders the ends of the ventral plates
from the anal plate anteriorly to near the head. In the head region, however, scale rows from the chin and throat (gulars) begin to invade the
lateral edges of the ventral row, and as more gular rows are added the
9B

.l

ventrals become smaller and smaller until often they approximate the size
of the gular rows before reaching the chin shields. In most, if indeed
not in all, snakeswith gular rows there is no disti-ct line of demarcation
between "gulars" and "ventrals" anterior to the point where the first lateral
gular row is inserted between the first row of dorsals and the ventral
series,and any attempt to define a "ventral" in this region (as shown above)
is quite subjective. On the other hand, there is often a considerabledifference in size and appearancebetween the ventral scale at this point and
the one immediately posterior (Fig. 1). This posterior ventral scaleis that
squte usually referred to as the "first true ventral" by previous workers
and may be defined accurately as shown. Therefore, it is recommended
that the starting point for the ventral count be defined as the first plate
borderedon both sidesby the first row of dorsals.
In specimensof ten colubrid genera which have been studied, the anterior edge of the first ventral, as defined above, has been found to
correspond in position with the axis or the atlas-axis articulation of the
vertebral column. Thus the ventrals, at least in these ten genera, ate
anatomically significant in that they agree exactly with the number of
dorsal vertebra. The practical advantages of using the above outlined
method of determining the first ventral are twofold : (1) there is a definite
and distinct point for beginning the ventral count which may be determined by rapid inspection and which is not subject to interpretation; (2)
the apparent variation of the ventral count is reduced by omitting the
most anterior ventral scuteswhich may be divided "gulars" or entire "ventrals," depending upon their sizeand proportions.
LrrBnerunBCrrso
Schmidt,Karl P. and D. Dwight Davis(1941). Field Bookof Snakesol the United

States and Canada. G. P. Putnam's Sons,N.Y.: 13 + 365 pp.

Thompson,JosephC. (1914). Further Contributionsto the Anatomy of the Ophidia.
Proc. lool. Soc. Londonz 379-402.

THE WALL LIZARD (LACERTA M|]RALIS)

IN ENGLAND
An unexpected discovery that has recently been made is the existence
of a well-established colony of the Wall Lizard in south-eastern England.
The district they inhabit-a good deal of which is private property and
has not been disturbed for many, many years-has a number of old walls
of brick and stone and these, no doubt, provide an ideal habitat for this
wall-loving speciesand account for its survival there. The origin of the
colony dates from Muy, L932, when 12 specimenswere purchased from a
dealer in London and liberated in a garden adjoining their present abode.
Two more were introduced the following year. Young ones were seen
in October, 1933, and a gravid female in the summer of 1934. Fighting

99