REPTILIA AND AMPHIBIA OF 

 CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 



By H. GADOW, Ph.D., M.A., F.R.S., King's College. 



OF the thirteen different species of Amphibia and Reptiles 

 of England eleven are known to occur, and to breed, in 

 Cambridgeshire. In the following pages no notice is taken of 

 specimens which have obviously escaped from captivity. For 

 instance, Prof. Henslow in 1824 met with a Natterjack in the 

 Old Botanic Garden, the present Museum-grounds. In the 

 present Botanic Garden now and then a continental frog has 

 been found, and at the Leys School opposite boys occasionally 

 bring such a frog from London and keep it for a while. 

 A spotted or Fire Salamander has crawled across Chesterton 

 Road after a thunderstorm, and inquiry into its ownership 

 was of no avail. I mention this case because a gentle- 

 man, who knows this species from continental experience, has 

 assured me that he has met several of them at a certain place 

 on the East Coast. 



REPTILIA. 



Of the three British species the only snake of Cambridge 

 and its neighbourhood for many miles around is the Common or 

 Grass-snake, Tropidonotus natrix. It is easily recognisable by 

 the pair of light-coloured, yellow or white, patches on the neck, 

 immediately behind the head ; this light collar is always present 

 in the snakes of this county. The Grass-snake prefers moist, 

 grassy localities, with the neighbourhood of water, chiefly on 



