REPTILES 

 AND BATRACHIANS 



Though the adder, the grass snake, the blind-worm, the lizard, the newt, 

 the toad, and the frog are better known to the untrained observer than the 

 animals in any other section of the county fauna, they have received very 

 little attention from local naturalists in Cornwall, and there has been but 

 little attempt to discriminate between allied species. Borlase speaks of them 

 in his Natural History of Cornwall (1758), Jonathan Couch gives an account 

 of them in his Cornish Fauna (1838), and Cocks an annotated list for the 

 Falmouth district in 1849. Since that date the only descriptive county list 

 that has appeared is Cornish's revision of Couch's article in 1878. Possibly 

 on account of this lack of attention the county list save for its casuals is some- 

 what commonplace. 



REPTILES 



CHELONIA 



LACERTILIA 



[Luth or Leathery Turtle. Sphargis coriacea. 



Borlase records the occurrence of this turtle, the 

 largest of all existing Chelonians, in the Cornish seas, 

 and speaks of one that weighed nearly 800 Ib. In 

 the Appendix to his Cornish Fauna, pt. iii, 149, 

 Couch quotes the account from the Falmoutb Packet 

 of an unsuccessful attempt to capture a very large 

 turtle near Land's End, in August 1839, that prob- 

 ably belonged to this species.] 

 [Green or Edible Turtle. Chehne mydas. 



A specimen of the Edible Turtle covered with 

 seaweed and barnacles was taken alive in a drift-net 

 in Mount's Bay, about two miles south of Mousehole 

 Island, on 5 October, 1874. Speaking of this re- 

 markable capture Cornish says, ' This turtle sometimes 

 appears in English waters, washed overboard from 

 ships or out of a wreck, but it is probable that this 

 particular specimen found its way across the ocean 

 naturally (by coming with the current), not only 

 from the state in which it was when taken, but also 

 from the fact that within four days of its capture, 

 Pimelepteres cornubiensis, a tropical fish, was taken alive 

 in Mount's Bay, out of a floating packing case, which 

 was covered with barnacles. The fish and the turtle 

 probably floated across the Atlantic in some sort of 

 involuntary company.'] 

 [Loggerhead Turtle. Thalassochelys caretta. 



The nearest breeding station of this turtle is in the 

 Mediterranean, but it is a casual visitor to the Bay of 

 Biscay, and has been captured several times in the 

 south-west of England. In September, 1896, a 

 specimen weighing 1 20 Ib. was taken by some fisher- 

 men about eight miles SSE. of Mousehole.] 



I. Common Lizard. Lacerta vivipara, Jacq. 



Widely spread and common in suitable localities 

 throughout the county. 



[Sand Lizard. Lacerta agifis, Linn. 



Borlase mentions this as a county species, and 

 Couch retains it on his list. Cornish never saw a speci- 

 men west of Dartmoor, but Miss F. Tripp, the 

 bryologist, refers to it in some MS. Natural History 

 notes as being rare on the moors above Altarnun. 

 The writer'has a specimen given to him by Mr. Dingle, 

 who believed it came from near St. Cleer, but there 

 is some uncertainty about its history. So far as can 

 be ascertained there is no undoubted Cornish example 

 in any collection. If it does occur in the county it is 

 either very rare or else very local, and, in spite of its 

 larger size, stouter build, and general appearance, it 

 may, of course, have been confused with the preceding 

 species. Gadow's description of it may be useful for 

 identification : ' A typically-coloured male during 

 the breeding season is grass-green on the sides and 

 suffused with green on the under parts ; the sides are 

 dotted with black with whitish eye-spots. The 

 under parts are spotted with black. The adult 

 female is brown or grey above, with large dark-brown, 

 white-centred spots, which are arranged in three 

 rows on each side. The under parts are cream- 

 coloured, with or without black specks." (Amphibia 

 and Reptiles, 554.)] 



2. Slow-worm or Blind-worm. Anguis fragilis, Linn. 

 Very common throughout the county. 



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