1316 The Zoologist— August, 1868. 



distance of about four hundred miles from the Gulf of Genoa, the 

 nearest sea-coast. 



Reptiles are very abundant in this part of Germany. On the sunny 

 banks of the vineyards and in the open forest glades you constantly 

 hear a short sharp rustle among the withered leaves, and (if you are 

 quick enough) you may capture either the very handsome sand lizard 

 [Lttcerta agilis), often beautifully tinted with green, or the more 

 plainly-clad L. vivipara: the true green lizard {L. riridis) I have 

 never met with. In a wood near Freiburg, where the slow-worm was 

 very plentiful, I observed a fact worth recording : two of these reptiles 

 were struggling together, and one of them had seized the head of the 

 other so firmly in its jaws that it allowed me to lift it up and carry it 

 for some distance by the tail without letting go its hold; the victim 

 was about the same size as its captor, but in its writhings had broken 

 off a considerable part of its tail : I had no idea that the slow-worra 

 was of so combative a nature. We met with neither snakes nor vipers, 

 although Natrix torqnata, Coronella laevis and Pelias berus are all 

 found in many parts of the Black Forest (Zool. 9559). The water- 

 ditches which intersect the level meadows of the plains are literally 

 alive with the edible frog {Rana esculent a), the " wasser-frosch," or 

 water-frog, of the Germans — a capital name, for it is hardly ever found 

 out of jumping range of its native element: indeed I found it not easy 

 to procure specimens, for though they sometimes sit basking in the 

 sun on the banks, they spring into the water the moment danger 

 approaches, and bury themselves in the mud at the bottom : they 

 often utter their peculiar croak even at mid-day, but at night the 

 whole air re-echoes to the not unmusical sound. The common frog 

 is not nearly so abundant. Besides the toad and rough and smooth 

 newts the salamander {Salamandra maculosa) also occurs : this reptile 

 is ovo-viviparous, and sometimes reaches a considerable size ; a female 

 in my collection is fully seven inches in length. 



Fish. — The clear mountain-streams of the Black Forest abound 

 with common trout, of small size but excellent flavour: they are 

 generally taken with a net, and are often kept alive in tanks at the 

 inns to be ready for the table. In many rivers the grayling is also 

 found. Even the water-ditches mentioned above are full of coarser 

 fish, such as barbels, tench, roach, minnows and miller's-thumbs, but 

 of these I have not the materials for a complete list. 



Insects. — Although not much of an entomologist, I may mention 

 having observed the following species of butterflies either in Baden 



