PREFACE. 



The coincidence of several most favoui-able circumstances, which seemed to promise a fair 

 success, induced me to entertain the idea of making the Reptilian fauna of British India the 

 subject of a special work ; and I was confirmed in this, as I had frequent opportunities of 

 observing that such a work would supply a real want among a class of men residing in India, 

 who, imbued with a desire to promote Natural History knowledge, are deterred by the want 

 of a work which would guide them in their first steps to acquainting themselves vdth objects 

 coming daily under their notice, and which would show them where and how new facts may 

 be gathered. 



As this work is the first attempt to comprise the entire Reptilian fauna of the continent of 

 the Indian region, it must be in many respects incomplete, although I trust it will form a basis 

 for the labours of future times. Every one who makes the fauna of a country an object of 

 special study has a triple task before him : first, to distinguish and systematically to arrange 

 the species as exactly as possible ; secondly, to make himself acquainted with their habits ; 

 and, thirdly, to ascertain the geographical range of each variety, of each species, of each 

 genus. A perfect knowledge of the species is the first condition, without which progress in 

 the two latter respects is impossible ; and it is much more the part of that zoologist who is 

 furnished with a complete series of the objects for repeated comparison and exammation, 

 and has access to the thousand volumes through which descriptions and notes are scattered, 

 than of the naturalist and collector who has the opportunity of observing the animals in 

 their natural haunts ; on him mainly devolves the fulfilment of the two latter tasks ; but 

 scarcely anything has been done in this respect as far as the Indian Reptiles are concerned, 

 and therefore my work, in its present shape, is one of abstract science. 



I have enjoyed the great advantage of unlimited access to collections accumulated in 

 this country from the time of Russell. A considerable number of the types used by this 

 pioneer in Indian Ophiology are still preserved in the collections of the British Museum 

 and of the Royal College of Surgeons ; the types, with a very few exceptions, of the species 

 described by Shaw, Gray, and myself, form part of the collection of the British Museum. 

 Cantor had sent invaluable collections, containing his types, to the University of Oxford, 

 where a part of the specimens, with his early manuscripts and drawings, are still preserved, 

 and at a later period to the Museum of the East India Company, which contained also a 

 number of the types sent by Kelaart and Griffith. 



The entire collection of Reptiles of the East India Company was transferred to the British 



b 



