180 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
on a path beside Theydon Bois church represents the only records of
the species seen in closed canopy woodland. Other records from earlier
years at Paul's Nursery, High Beech (B.T.W.), of eight found in a
garden at Buckhurst Hill (actually outside our area) (D.S.), two seen
on Fairmead Bottom in 1947, one near the Jubilee Retreat, Chingford,
1946, and another on Pear Tree Plain, 1944 (A.C.W.), indicate that it
is widely distributed in Epping Forest. The remarkable ability of this
lizard to lie basking in the sun and yet remain un-noticed by several
observers, may account for its reported rarity in the area.
Lizard (Lacerta vivipara Jacquin). This lizard seems to be abundant
on all the plains and open spaces in the area surveyed. It is the most
common and widely distributed of all the reptiles in the Forest. One
of us (G.M.) caught twenty-one Lizards, all males, as early in the year
as 31 March—a striking proof of its abundance. Not only it is found
on the larger plains, such as Fairmead Bottom, Whitehouse Plain.