306 THE NATURAL HISTORY REVIEW. 



that the author of the " Eeptiles of British India" never for a 

 moment entertained the idea of offering the work to a London 

 publisher — being well aware that it would not have been accepted? 

 except upon the terms of his paying the expenses of its produc- 

 tion. Even in the case of British Zoology it is hard enough to 

 find a publisher who will undertake a strictly scientific work, and 

 as regards the Zoology of Eoreign countries we are not aware 

 of the phenomenon of a " London publisher" willing to venture 

 his capital on such an unsaleable article having ever occurred. 

 Such works are invariably produced either at the cost of the authors 

 themselves, usually at a considerable sacrifice, or by the assistance of 

 a grant from some Government fund or other external means. So 

 far, therefore, from the Council of the Eay Society meriting any 

 censure for their publication of Dr. Gunther's work, we consider that 

 they deserve the gi^eatest credit for having undertaken it. It has long 

 been a national scandal that so little pains have been taken to make 

 use of the great opportunities enjoyed by our countrymen in India 

 for producing a complete scientific survey of that country. The Bay 

 Society have already issued many very valuable works, but we 

 believe that, as regards the progress of zoological science, they have 

 never presented to their subscribers and to the public a more impor- 

 tant volume than the " Eeptiles of British India." 



Although Dr. Giinther has adopted the '* Eeptiles of British 

 India " as a title for his work, as being based on collections " mainly 

 brought together within British dominions or in countries under 

 British protection," he has included in it notices of all the species oi 

 this group of animals found within the limits of the adjacent south- 

 eastern corner of the Asiatic Continent. " The fauna of Burmah, 

 Siam, Cochin-China, and Southern China " forms, he observes, " a 

 natural unity with that of India proper." In order to point out 

 where the Eeptilian fauna of the Indian continent becomes inter- 

 mingled with forms properly belonging to other regions, he has like- 

 wise included what is known of the Eeptiles of Afghanistan, Tibet, 

 and Southern China. In a few cases, such as the curious flying 

 Lizards of the genus Draco and the Hydrophiidse, or sea-serpents, he 

 has gone still further, and introduced into his work complete mono- 

 graphic essays upon the whole of the known species of the group. 



In the large alcoholic collection of the British Museum under his 

 own charge, Dr. Giinther found an invaluable series of types of 

 species described by authors in this country since the time of EusselL 



