G8 

 PART IV. 



SKETCH OF THE LITERATURE 



BEARING ON THE 



REPTILIAN AND BATRACHIAN FAUNA OF ARABIA. 



As a supplement to these lists o£ Reptiles, I have uow to add a 

 complete list of all the species o£ Reptilia and Batraehia known 

 to occur in Arabia, and as an introduction to it I give a sliort 

 sketch of the literature of the subject. 



The Danish Expedition equipped by Frederick V. of Denmark 

 for the scientific exploration of Egypt, Arabia, and Syria, sailed 

 from Europe in January 1761. When it had accomj^lished its 

 woik in Egypt, the members of the Expedition went to Suez, and 

 after Niebuhr had visited Mount Sinai they sailed on the 21st 

 July, 1762, for Jiddah, whence tliey proceeded overland to 

 Mocha. Here Van Haven, the philologist, died ; and two 

 months afterwards Peter Forskal, the naturalist, succumbed to 

 the pligue, at Jerim, on the 11th July, 1763. Shortly after 

 this, Niebuhr left Arabia, but be did not return to Copenhagen 

 until November, 1767, when he at once began to prepare for 

 publication the results achieved by the Expedition, and to arrange, 

 for the same purpose, the materials that his friend Forskfil had 

 brought together. This posthumous work of Forskal's, entitled 

 ' Descriptiones Animalium, &c.,' appeared in 1775. It is our 

 first introduction to the fauna of Arabia. 



In it he mentions the occurrence in Loheia, north of Hodeida, 

 of a land-tortoise, Testudo terrestris, and the local name of which 

 is Buzi or Siikar. It is useless attempting to identify this 

 animal, but it may possibly bo T. leithii, Glinther, which is found 

 in the desert country between Ismailia and El Arisch ; while, 

 on the other hand, it may prove to be Testudo elegans, Schoepff, 

 which has been recorded from Muscat. 



Four species of Lizards are described, viz. : — Lacerta nilotica,, 

 Hasselquist & Linna;us, = Varanus niloticus, Hasselq. & Linn. ; 

 Lacerta cegyptia, Hasselquist & Linnaeus, = Uromastix cegi/ptius, 

 H. & L. ; Lacerta ocellata, Forskal, =.Chalcides {Gongylus) ocel- 

 latus, Forsk. ; and Lacerta gecko, H. & L., =Ptjodactylushassel- 



