M. F. Sumichrast on the Habits of some Mexican Reptiles, 497 



Trichoor. A larger specimen, from the more southern part of 

 the Travancore range, was reported in the ' Annals ' for Decem- 

 ber 1862. The original site proves to be a portion of the 

 AnamuUay Hills, which Mr. W. T. Blanford describes, in p. 374 

 of the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society' for 1861, as the highest 

 range in Southern India, lying south-west of Coimbatore and of 

 the Nilgiris, where Mr. King made a collection which he after- 

 wards lost. Mr. Blanford informed me that one of the shells 

 taken was evidently H. Basileus. In a short paper by Dr. Pfeiffer, 

 pubHshed in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1863, 

 p. 117, a large Helix, 68 mill, in diameter (4 mill, less than my 

 original specimen), is described under the name of H. Titanica, 

 as taken in the Anamullay forest. It is evidently the same 

 species as H. Basileus. Dr. Pfeiffer must have overlooked the 

 description which I forwarded to him in May 1861. 



Another Helix, 30 mill, in greatest diameter, 25 mill, in the 

 lesser, and axis 17 mill., taken, with smaller varieties, by Lieut. 

 Cox in the same quarter, agrees with H. lata, Pfr. (not H, lata of 

 Gould), the habitat of which was unknown. From the south 

 part of the Travancore range I have received an imperfect speci- 

 men of a Helix which is apparently H. Isabellina, Pfr., previously 

 known from Ceylon. This is an interesting circumstance in 

 connexion with Dr. Pfeiffer's description, in p. 116 of the 'Proc. 

 Zool. Soc' for 1862, of a Cataulus (C. recurvatus) from the 

 Anamullay forest. 



In October 1860, I described a small Cyrena from Quilon as 

 C. Quilonica ; and in December 1862, I noted it as a Batissa, 

 from a more mature specimen. I have since obtained the shell 

 fully grown from Cochin, and find that it was described in the 

 'Proc. Zool. Soc' for 1858, by Mr. Sylvanus Hanley, as Cyrena 

 {Batissa) Cochinensis, which name will be retained on the ground 

 of priority to that of Quilonica. — W. H. B. 



XLVIII. — Note on the Habits of some Mexican Reptiles. 

 By F. Sumichrast*. 



I. Family VaranidaB. 



Genus Heloderma, Wagler. 



Heloderma horridum, Wagler, Wiegm. 



' Escorpion' of the Creoles f. ' Tala-chini ' of the Zapotec 



Indians. 



This singular Saurian, the sole American representative of the 



* Translated by W. S. Dallas, F.L.S., from the ' Bibliotheque Univer- 

 selle,' 1864, Arch, des Sci. Phys. et Nat. p, 45. 



t The name of Escorpion is generally applied in Mexico to all the 

 Saurians whose bite is considered venomous. 



