ee 
1864.] DR. A. GUNTHER ON REPTILES FROM THE ZAMBESI. 303 
soft rays, which are bifid at the end, and form a convex posterior 
margin. Anal fin very short, composed of four rays only, which are 
opposed to the posterior dorsal rays. The base of the pectoral fin 
is fleshy and enveloped in skin, as in other Pediculati. It is com- 
posed of eighteen simple and feeble rays. Ventral fins none. Vent 
situated immediately behind the abdominal sac. The whole fish, 
even the inside of the mouth, of the abdominal sac, and of the sto- 
mach, is of a uniform deep black. 
Total length (mouth closed) 358, inches; length of intermaxillary 
and of mandible 1,4, inch. 
7. REPORT ON A COLLECTION oF ReEpriLes AND FISHES MADE 
By Dr. Kirk IN THE ZAMBESI AND Nyassa Recions. By 
ALBERT Gtntuer, M.A., M.D., Pa.D., F.Z.S. 
(Plates XXVI., XXVII.) 
A most valuable collection of Reptiles and Fishes made by Dr. 
Kirk, the scientific companion of Dr. Livingstone on his last expe- 
dition to Eastern Africa, having been presented by him to the British 
Museum, I beg leave to lay before the Society a full account of its 
contents, with descriptions of those species which appear to me to be 
new to science. The Tortoises and a part of the Saurians have 
already been noticed by Dr. J. E. Gray in the ‘ Proceedings’ of this 
Society, 1864, p. 58, where also figures of two new Lizards have 
been given. In the determination of several of the species, I have 
been aided by a less complete series of duplicate specimens which 
had been sent home by Mr. C. Livingstone, and were presented by 
Earl Russell to the British Museum. 
For almost all we know of the fauna of this part of Tropical Africa 
we are indebted to Professor Peters, who spent several years in the 
exploration of its zoological and botanical productions, and who 
reaped so rich a harvest. However, Dr. Kirk entered a country 
previously unexplored, the topographical features of which are given 
in the following notes, with which I have been favoured by Dr. 
Kirk :— 
‘The present collection is chiefly from the regions bordering the 
Zambesi, including those of the Nyassa Lake. 
** Some of the fish were gathered in the Rovuma, which was ex- 
plored for 115 miles in direct distance, at which point it becomes 
encumbered by rocks, and cannot be ascended further. This river, 
gathering the waters of the eastern slopes of the coast mountain- 
range which overhangs the Nyassa, opens to the Indian Ocean north 
of Cape Delgado. 
“Above the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi and the Murchison Rapids 
of the Shire a marked difference in the fish fauna is met with. 
During the short time spent in the former region, many fishes with 
which I was not familiar in the lower part were observed; and the 
natives who accompanied us remarked of others met with near Tete, 
