. 166 
12. IcHTHYOPHIS GLUTINOSUS, L. (Gray, l. ¢.). 
Found by Dr. Hooker in Khasia. 
I am well aware that the results of our examination rest on 
facts which, for the present, depend on isolated, and therefore ne- 
cessarily incomplete, observations ; and cautiously as the conclusions 
may be drawn, yet they will undergo, perhaps, considerable altera- 
tions, when some future traveller or resident devotes as much at- 
tention to this part of zoology as has been given to other branches 
and to botany. With regard to horizontal distribution, the first 
question is, whether the Reptiles of the Khasia Hills show such a 
degree of identity with those of the Himalayas as to compel us to 
refer them to the same fauna ; our knowledge of the Reptiles of High 
Assam being too scanty to admit of any conclusion as to that country. 
Now, two of the four species of Khasian Saurians are found also in 
the Himalayas and in Affghanistan, but nowhere else (Calotes marie 
and C. minor). The order of Ophidians offers us more facts. Dr. 
J. Hooker was able to collect fifteen species of Snakes during a 
twelve months’ sojourn in Khasia. He says* that they are very 
common there, whilst he found them rare and shy in most parts of 
the Himalaya+. In this, however, he appears to be right merely 
with regard to the number of individuals, the Himalaya showing an 
absolutely greater variety in generic and specific forms ; and the dif- 
ference mentioned by Dr. Hooker may depend on the influence of 
the climate which, in Khasia, is remarkable for the extensive rain- 
fall, the annual average probably greatly exceeding 600 inchesf, 
whilst 136 only are recorded at Darjeeling. Three of these fifteen 
species (Gonyosoma frenatum, Trimesurus elegans, and T. bicolor) 
are known from Khasian specimens only ; five are very distinct varie- 
ties and species, confined to Khasia and the Himalaya, and not de- 
scending below 4000 feet in the latter (Simotes purpurascens, var., 
Xenodon macrophthalmus, Tropid. platyceps, Spilotes reticulatus, 
Psammod. pulverulentus, var.). The remainder are found in the 
plains also, but they ascend the Khasia Hills, as well as the Hima- 
layas, far enough to be admitted into their fauna. Thus we find in 
these facts evidence enough to show not only a great similarity, but 
a real unity of the two faunas, extending westwards along all the 
chains of the Himalayas; and there are not a few Khasian and 
Himalayan species which are found in Affghanistan. 
When we come to examine the highest zone of the Himalaya in 
which reptiles can live, we find its Amphibio-fauna mixed with forms 
bearing the Palearctic character. This appears to be not only the 
effect of a climate tempered by the great vertical elevation, but the 
natural consequence of the connexion between the northern Himalaya 
and Central Asia, or, in other words, a fact of the horizontal distri- 
* Himal. Journ. ii. p. 301. Dr. Hooker is mistaken in believing that none of 
the Snakes collected by him in Khasia are venomous. Tvrimesurus bicolor and T. 
elegans were described from his collection. See Ann. & Mag. 7. c. pp. 391, 392. 
+ Himal. Journ. ii. p. 49. } Himal. Journ. ii. p. 283. 
