EXTRACTS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS. 319 



Duoks has furnished excellent descriptions of many species from the south of 

 France. Prince Bonaparte has studied those of Italy, on which Mktaxa is at 

 present engaged. And MM. Bibbon and Boby have recently published the 

 names of thirty-one species, some of which, obtained from the Morea, are new. 

 Other accounts also exist on the reptiles of the same countries, but they are for 

 the most part scattered through various works, and have not special reference to 

 erpetological geography. 



The following are the twenty-seven reptiles mentioned by M. Gervais as oc- 

 curring in Barbary : — 



Testudo marginata, Schceff. ; T. ibera, Pall.; Emys leprosy Schweig. ; 

 Gecko fascicularis, Daud. ; G. verruculatus, Cu v.; Gymnod-xciylus Maurita- 

 nicus, Dum. and Bibb. ; Chameleo vulgaris, Linn. ; Uromastyx acanthinurus, 

 Bell ; Lacerta viridis ; L. agilis ; Algira Barbarica ; Lerista Dumerilii, 

 Cocteau; Scincus ocellatus ; S. cyprius, Cuv. ; Seps tridactylus, Daud. ; An- 

 guisfragilis, Linn; ; A. punctatissimus, Bibb, and Boby ; Pseudopus serpen- 

 tinus, Mebb. ; Amphisbcena cinerea, Vandelli ; A. elegans. Gebv. ; Coluber 

 Agassizii ; C. hippocrepis, Linn. ; C. Austriacus, Linn. ; C. viperinus, Linn. ; 

 C. Msculapii, Lacep. ; Bufo\Arabicus, Cbestz. ; Triton Poireti, Gerv. — An- 

 nates des Sciences Naturelles. 



3. On the Lammer Geyer (Gypaetus barbatus). — These birds, observes 

 Mr. Hodgson, of Nepaul, which appear to be sufficiently common in the western 

 portion of the vast chain of the Himalayas, are also found, though more rarely, 

 on the eastern side, in Nepaul. They live either separate or in flocks, and 

 assemble wherever there is a good repast to be had, without fearing even the 

 neighbourhood of man. The author considers them as belonging to the Gypacte 

 des Alpes, and the Vautour barbu of Africa. In fact they agree in size ; and 

 although the assertion of Bishop Hebeb, that the Himalayan bird measures 

 twenty feet from wing to wing, must be rejected as a popular exaggeration, yet 

 it appears, by the observations of the author, that the length is often ten and 

 even eleven feet. Its form is more that of a Vulture than of an Eagle. The 

 bill is horn-coloured, straight, and very strong ; the nostrils are covered with 

 stiff black bristles, directed forwards ; two bunches of similar bristles, at the 

 base of the lower mandible, give this bird its provincial name. The head and 

 neck are entirely covered with short, straight, pointed feathers, which are of a 

 light tawny brown color, with a yellowish tinge. The wings are as long as the 

 tail, the feathers being dark, with a white stripe in the centre. The legs are 

 short, the tarsi very short, and entirely covered with feathers ; the talons, inter- 

 mediate between those of the Vultures and the Falcons, are lead-colored. It 

 has not, like the Lammer Geyer, a white band round the head, but there is no 

 great importance in such a character, and Mr. Hodgson's description seems to 



2u 2 



