60 
Our Reptiles and Amphibians: their Distribution 
in the Counties of Stafford, Derby, and 
Leicester. 
By G. H. Storer, F.Z.8. 
READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY, FEBRUARY 27TH, 1903. 
A we might expect from the position of the Midland Counties, 
with which we in Burton are most familiar, Reptiles are but 
poorly represented numerically in Staffordshire, Derbyshire, 
and Leicestershire, especially when we compare these counties with 
those south of the Thames. Our Amphibians, although not includ- 
ing the Edible Frog (Rana EscuLEeNTA), which is confined to the 
Eastern Fen district, and counting the Palmated Newt (Motce 
PALMATA) on a single record only, are individually more abundant 
than the reptiles, and are likely to remain so, since, in many local- 
ities, their haunts are less likely to be altered by the agency of man, 
whilst the Amphibians themselves are more prolific than are the 
Reptiles. The European Water Tortoise, described and figured by 
Sir Oswald Mosley (‘‘ History of Tutbury”) from a specimen taken 
on the canal bank, near Burton, in 1857, was evidently merely a 
stray specimen which had escaped from captivity, and may be at 
once dismissed from our list. 
REPTILES. 
LACERTILIA. 
1. Common, Scaly, or Viviparous Lizard. LACERTA VIVIPARAJACQUIN. 
In Derbyshire this species occurs most abundantly in the North, 
but is rare or altogether absent from many districts in the centre 
