268 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



lamentably obvious that he had the opportunity, by making a 

 judicious selection from the stones in his possession, of produc- 

 ing a work which would have been of immense value to 

 students, and which might have inaugurated a new era in the 

 history of the Stone Age in Ceylon. 



The illustrations contained in the book and contributed 

 by Mrs. Maclure and Mi's. Harper are admirably done. It is 

 melancholy to reflect that the excellence of their drawings 

 renders the conviction so much the more inevitable that the 

 majority of the stones figured are waste chips, not completed 

 implements. 



November, 1913. C. HARTLEY. 



2. — Poisonous Snakes of India and Ceylon.* 



The enlarged third edition of Major Wall's book, which is 

 pubhshed by the Bombay Natural History Society, and which 

 treats so thoroughly with the posionous snakes of British 

 India, is particularly well arranged and lucidly written, 

 avoiding that complexity which so often characterizes books 

 of this type, and which is so confusing to the general reader. 



The first portion of the book deals with the identification 

 of the poisonous snakes, chiefly by means of scahng and 

 head shields, and is illustrated by clearly printed diagrams 

 which should prove extremely useful, as the shields, which 

 are often difficult to examine on a living specimen, are here 

 clearly portrayed, and the necessary explanation is reduced 

 to a minimum. 



Each snake is concisely and clearly described, only those 

 features that are necessary for its identification being given, 

 to which are added. short notes on its distribution, dimen- 

 sions, colour, and poison. Of the " Kraits " Major 

 Wall recognizes twelve species, two of which, Bungarus 

 ceylonicus and Bungarus cseruleus, occur in Ceylon. The 



* " The Poisonous Terrestrial Snakes of our British India Dominions 

 (including Ceylon), and how to recognize them," by Major F. Wall, 

 I.M.S., C.M.Z.S. 3rd edition. Bombay Natural History Society, 1913. 



