ON SOME COLLECTIONS OF REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS FROM 

 EAST AFRICA AND THE ADJACENT ISLANDS, RECENTLY RE- 

 CEIVED FROM DR. W. L. ABBOTT AND MR. WILLIAM ASTOR 

 CHANLER, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 



BY 



Leonhard Stejneger, 



Curator of the Department of Reptiles and Batrachians. 



The collections treated of in the present paper were sent home at 

 various times by the gentlemen mentioned in the title. In addition 

 to these I have enumerated several specimens, chiefly from the Sey- 

 chelles, collected by the late Col. Nicolas Pike, and presented by him 

 to the Museum, as well as a few others from the same islands obtained 

 from the British Museum, in 1883, and the Paris Museum, through Prof. 

 Leon Vaillant, during the present year. 



Dr. W. L. Abbott's collectionsfromthebaseof the Kilimanjaro were 

 made during 1888 and 1889, and the specimens mentioned in the follow- 

 ing pages were probably taken at altitudes between 5,000 and 8,000 feet 

 above the sea. 



He collected twice on the Seychelles, viz, in April and May, 1890, and 

 again in 1892 during the months of July and August. In October, Novem- 

 ber, and December of the same year he collected in Aldabra. The rep- 

 tiles obtained in Gloriosa Island were taken during the latter part of 

 January, 1873. 



The collection received from Mr. William Astor Chanler was made 

 by him and Lieut, von Hcehnel, of the Imperial Austrian Navy, along 

 the Tana Eiver, en route from the coast to Hameye, about 300 miles 

 inland. His expedition left Mkoumbi, on the coast of Witu, on Sep- 

 tember 18 and reached Hameye on November 2G, 1892, following the 

 left bank ot the Tana from Merifano to Subaki, where he crossed over 

 to the right bank. He also presented the Museum with a small, but 

 interesting collection made by Mr. Gustav Denhardt at Wange on the 

 island of Manda, a short distance north of Lamu. 



Mr. Chanler's collection is chiefly interesting in furnishing material 

 from a region between that of the Massai land and Somali. Species 

 found hitherto only in the latter country are among Mr. Chanler's 

 treasures, while the range of several southern forms have been extended 

 northward. 



The most interesting portion of Dr. Abbott's collections are undoubt- 

 edly the specimens obtained in the Seychelles. Aldabra, and Gloriosa. 

 So far as I know no extensive collecting has been done in the last men- 



Proceedings National Museum. Vol. XVI— !No. 970. 



711 



