494 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
ferns—spread over the steaming swamps that stretched for 
leagues in all directions,” and “ broad lagoons and open seas, 
from which little volcanic cones throw out their streams 
of lava and showers of ashes,” those of us who know little or 
nothing of fossil zoology realise how great are the disadvan- 
tages which ignorance of fossil forms entails; for what would 
we not give to be able to people these swamps, lagoons, and 
seas of the far distant past with their proper inhabitants ? 
The two fossil Amphibians above referred to are Lozomma 
allmanni, Huxley (Lee. M. Carb. Limest.; Gilmerton), and 
Pholidogaster pisciformis, Huxley (Loc. L. Carb.; Edinburgh). 
Reptiles and Batrachians seem seldom to have engaged the 
attention of field naturalists in Scotland, and consequently 
very little information has been placed on record regarding 
them. What little there is bearing on our district, practically 
consists of a few entries in Stark’s “ Picture of Edinburgh,” 
Patrick Neill’s list of the “ Plants and Animals of Habbie’s 
Howe” (“Gentle Shepherd,” 1808 ed.), and Chambers’s 
“History of Peeblesshire”; together with one or two 
scattered items in Zhe Zoologist and the “ New Statistical 
Account of Scotland.” The references to Scotland in Bell’s 
“ British Reptiles” (2nd ed., 1849), Cook’s “Our Reptiles 
and Batrachians” (1893 ed.), and similar works, are of 
the most general description, and therefore contain nothing 
of interest from the point of view of local geographical 
distribution.? 
The arrangement and nomenclature—which Mr G. A. 
Boulenger has very kindly revised for me, and to whom I 
am otherwise greatly indebted—are in accordance with the 
British Museum Catalogues. 
My best thanks are due to many old friends and corre- 
spondents, and also to several new ones, for invaluable 
co-operation and assistance. 
1 A fresh book on the British species, thoroughly up to-date as regards life- 
histories, distribution, etc., and with good coloured illustrations, is much to 
be desired. Meanwhile those interested in the subject will find a great deal 
of valuable information in Fatio’s Faune des Vertébrés de la Suisse, vol. 
iii., published in 1872. Boulenger’s excellent Synopsis of the Tadpoles of 
European [tailless] Batrachians (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1891), and Bedriaga’s paper 
on Salamandrine Larve (Zool, Anz., 1891), will also be found very useful. 
