488 DR. A. GUNTHER ON A COLLECTION [Nov. 8, 
recorded as being met with in the Comoro Islands (see Ibis, 1864, 
p- 300); so that its existence in Madagascar also might have been 
anticipated. 
11. Report on A CoLLECTION OF REPTILES AND FISHES FROM 
Patestine. By A. Gintuer, M.A., M.D., Ph.D., F.Z.S. 
The natural history of Palestine has been very incompletely 
known, and there are only a very few collections im which speci- 
mens illustrating its reptiles and fishes are exhibited. Hassel- 
quist was the first who described a fish from the Lake of Galilee ; and 
several others from the Jordan are mentioned in Cuvier and Valen- 
cienne’s ‘ Histoire Naturelle des Poissons.’ Of reptiles only a few 
species of Snakes were mentioned by M. Jan in a pamphlet entitled 
‘ Elenco sistematico degli Ofidi.’ 
The British Museum received first a few species from a collection 
made by Th. W. Beddome, Esq., who visited Palestine in 1862, and 
fell a victim to a malignant fever during his return. The species 
collected by him will be mentioned below. A magnificent collection 
has been formed by the Rev. H. B. Tristram ; indeed we believe that 
it is the most ample ever brought to Europe, and that it fully illus- 
trates the character of the fauna. Comparatively few of the species are 
new and apparently peculiar to Palestine, nearly all the reptiles being 
identical with, or closely allied to, species belonging to the Mediter- 
ranean fauna proper. Only one species (Daboia xanthina) reminds 
us of the Indian fauna. The most interesting form is the new genus 
of Snakes described below, the affinities of which are rather obscure. 
The ichthyological part of Mr. Tristram’s collection shows the 
affinity of the Jordan with the Nile and other rivers of tropical 
Africa, Chromis and Hemichromis being truly African forms, whilst 
nearly all the other species are identical with, or very closely allied 
to, fishes from the fresh waters of Syria. 
List of the Species. 
Those marked with an asterisk (*) are new, 
ToRTOISES. 
Testudo greca, L. Everywhere. 
Emys caspica, Gm. 
SauRIANS, 
Lacerta viridis, L. Jerusalem, Merom, Mount Hermon. 
L. levis, Gray. Jerusalem, Dead Sea. 
Zootoca muralis, Laur. Syria, Beyrout. 
Z. deserti, Gthr. Lebanon. 
*Z. tristrami, Gthr. Lebanon. 
Mesalina pardalis, Licht. Beersheba. 
Pseudopus pallasii, Oppel. Mount Hermon. 
Ophiomorus miliaris, Pall. Mount Hermon. 
Ophiops elegans, Ménétr. Galilee, Mount Hermon. 
