( 173 ) 



B.EPTILIA AND BATRACHIA. 



APART from the Python, of which I only heard accounts, the 

 largest reptile I met in the Transvaal was the Monitor ( Vara- 

 nus niloticus), which was not uncommon on the banks of the 

 spruits (see ante, p. 87). Another very common Lizard was 

 Agama hispida, of which I have found four or five under a 

 single stone ; it runs about the bare veld and is easily caught. 

 The most interesting species is Mabuia trivittata, which in- 

 habits holes in banks in company with Toads, and, as already 

 described, basks in the sun at the entrance to its hole, with its 

 legs arranged close by the side of its body, which is curled up 

 like a Snake, which the Lizard then much resembles (ante, p. 87) . 

 The Puff- Adder (Vipera arietans) I only found twice, and, 

 strange to say, the two specimens were met with, at an interval 

 of a fortnight, on exactly the same spot in a pathway at the foot 

 of a cliff ; on each occasion I nearly trod upon the reptile, which 

 was basking in the dust under the midday sun. In walking 

 through the high grass of the warm lowlands of Zoutpansberg 

 one is frequently warned to be careful of Snakes ; but in these 

 excursions I only saw one individual, which was about six feet 

 long, and sought refuge amidst some large blocks of quartzite 

 before I could obtain a shot at it. 



As the warm rainy season advances the silence of the veld 

 (wherever accumulations of water are found) is broken by the 

 croakings of Batrachians, and the hoarse bellow of the huge 

 Rana adspersa makes the night hideous to those who live in 

 the vicinity of the haunts of this handsome frog. 



I have placed my small collection among the treasures in the 

 British Museum, and that excellent authority, Mr. G. A. 

 Boulenger, has contributed the following enumeration and 

 notes, and described a new species of Snake which I found 

 near Pretoria. 



