SCHMIDT: HERPETOLOCY 603 



placed in charge of Joseph Eiselt. Franz Werner (b. 1867, d. 1939), long active as 

 a teacher at the University of Vienna, was, perhaps unfortunately, persona non 

 grata at the Natural Ilistorj^ Museum in Vienna under the regime of Steindach- 

 ner. Much of Werner's work is competent herpetology in imitation of Boulenger; 

 his reputation is marred by a few papers in which well-known exotic snakes are 

 described as new species and new genera. These are wholly incongruous with his 

 technically competent general account of the Amphibia and the special treatment 

 of the Apoda in the Handbuch der Zoologie (1930). His major contribution to 

 herpetology is his two-volume account of the amphibians and reptiles of the world 

 in the fourth edition of Brehm's TicrJehen (1912-1913) , which is of broad interest 

 to zoologists in general. 



An independent herpetological center grew up at the Hungarian National 

 Museum at Budapest under the influence of Lajos von Mehely (whose herpeto- 

 logical publications begin in 1890) and Baron G. J. von Fejervary (first paper 

 in 1910) . Mehely was naturally enough interested in the European herpetological 

 fauna. For the lizards of the genus Lacerta, his ideas as to which were the primi- 

 tive and which the derived forms differed sharply from those of Boulenger. It is 

 somewhat surprising to find an extensive series of papers by this author on New 

 Guinean and South American frogs. Baron Fejerviiry, who was succeeded by his 

 wife as curator of the herpetological collections, is known for his studies of the 

 fossil varanid lizards and their relatives. Most of these papers are in German, 

 some in both Hungarian and German. Since World War II Mrs. Fejevary has 

 been publishing in Hungarian without benefit of summary in another language. 



There has been active interest in herpetology in the several Scandinavian 

 countries since the times of Linnaeus. This is reflected not only in active work 

 on the North European fauna, but in an interest in the amphibians and reptiles 

 from foreign countries. Collections from individual travelers and from expedi- 

 tions have accumulated in the museums and university collections of Sweden, 

 Norway, and Denmark, throughout the Boulengerian and post-Boulengerian eras 

 and have formed the basis for numerous reports^ (mostly in English or German). 



Oskar Boettger (b. 1833, d. 1910), equally known for studies in malacology 

 and herpetology, made the Senckenberg Museum at Frankfort on the Main a cen- 

 ter of herpetological studies. His papers reflect an influence quite different from 

 the direct colonial interest of the national museums, and one characteristic of 

 Frankfort, for the numerous correspondents who sent him specimens were busi- 

 nessmen with amateur interests in natural history, wlio took time to collect for 

 him, and for the home town museum, in China, at the Lower Congo, in ]Mada- 

 gascar, and in central Asia. Boettger's first herpetological paper is in 1869; but 

 his catalogues of the collections in the Senckenberg Museum (1892-1898) place 

 him clearly in the school of Boulenger. He contriljuted the account of the amphib- 

 ians and reptiles, a volume of 826 pages, to the third edition of Brehm's Tierlehen 

 (1892). 



The Modern Era of Herpetology in Europe 



Boettger was succeeded at Frankfurt by Robert Mertens (b. 1894), who has 

 been an active field student in the East Indies and West Africa, as well as in the 



7. By Lonnberg, Andersson, Rendahl, and Vols0e, to name only a few. 



