Interest has increased in .he past ten years The distribution of several rare species of 

 in the study of our native amphibian and repti- lizard and snake was examined, only 1-2 

 1 ian fauna. Current works in this area represent specimens of which had earlier been identified, 

 a continuation of the traditional herpetolog ical and many of which were discovered far beyond 

 research of Russian zoologists of the pre-r»volu- the limits of the boundaries of their previous- 

 t ionary period, characterized by the three-volume lv known habitats. It was not excluded that 

 monograph of A. M. Nikol'skiy, "Reptiles and some of these findings, especially in the south- 

 Amphibians" (1915-1918), from the series "Fauna em regions of the USSR, resulted as a consequence 

 of Russia". This basic summation, however, demon- of the generally observed warming of the climate 

 strated an obvious lack of data on our native and subsequent expansion of the habitat of the 

 herpetof auna, especially with regard to its heatloving varieties toward the north, 

 ecology. 



The basic results of the aforementioned in- 



By the end of the 20's the basic direction creased faunistic research and questions of the 



of our herpetolog ical research was more or less formation of herpetofauna of the many natural 



clearly determined, i.e., faunistic research zones of the USSR are reflected in relevant sec- 



and, closely related to it, work on classifies- tions of the five-volume work - "The arimal 



tion and zoogeography, the study of the mode of world of the USSR", compiled by the Zoological 



life of the separate species and morphological- Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the 



ecological research, all undergoing further USSR ( 1936—195^ ) * 

 development in subsequent decades. In addition, 



at the present time the question of the study of It should be noted that along with their study 



amphibians and reptiles as intermediate and re- of native fauna Soviet experts also devoted part 



servoir hosts for some parasites of man and use- of their attention to the herpetofauna of some 



ful a-imals has become more urgent, and the ; reign countries (see, fcr example, A. G. 



study of poisonous snakes as producers of poisons Bannikov, 1958). 

 has fou.id growing applicability in our pharma- 

 cological industry. With the usual effect of the accumulation of 



knowledge concerning the distribution of amphi- 



Beninninq in the 20's and 3^'s there was a bians and reptiles, a broadening of the research 

 broad flowering of faunistic research embracing ^ in the field of taxonomy has taken place, which 

 the whole of the territory of the Union, which we are even now, however, not developing sufficient- 

 assisted in pinning down the geographic distri- ly. Primarily, such research has had the task of 

 bution of many species of amphibian and reptile defining the status of unclear areas in the sys- 

 (see the collected articles of S. A. Chernov, tematic relationship of groups, i.e., the green 

 1945, and of P. V. Terent'yev, 1 957) - frog (Rar.a), the rourd-headed lizard ( Phrynocepha- 



lus), or the Colubridae (adder) snake (Eirenis). 



For a long time and most thoroughly the In recent times the attention of the taxonomist- 



territory of the European part of the USSR had herpetolog i s t has been dra./n more and more to 



been covered in the herpetolog ical sense. Mors questions of geographic and population variations 



than one hundred special works had been dedica- of the distinct varieties. Thus P. V. Terent'yev 



ted to the distribution and in part to the ecology ( 1957/ came to the conclusion that many taxono- 



of the species found there. metric indicators concerning amphibians, con- 

 sidered constant, consist in actuality of a stage 



The rich amphibian and reptilian fauna of in a series of gradual changes now known as 

 the Caucasus has repeatedly attracted the atten- clinal variation. Terent'yev even theorized 

 ticn of our herpetolog i sts. Reports and private that, in many cases when studying geographic 

 studies have been published on the herpetofauna variations, one must renounce the concept of 

 of Armenia, Azerbaidjan, Georgia, Dagestan and sub-species. S. A. Chernov has published a series 

 other regions of the Caucasus and Trans-caucasus. of articles on the classification of the various 

 A great contribution has been made by Soviet genera of snake of our fauna, 

 experts toward the study of the extremely inter- 

 esting herpetofauna of Kazakhstan and Centra" A small number of research projects on zoo- 

 Asia. The latter was made possible ai a result geography are being conducted principally on the 

 of the increase of native cadres of zoologists clarification of the genesis of the herpetologi- 

 ard the activity of the zoological institutes cal fauna of various regions cf the USSR, particu- 

 of the republican academies. Much research has iarly Central Asia, the Caucasus and Crimea. In 

 also been conducted on the herpetofauna of the course of these projects attempts are being 

 Siberia and the Far East. made to explain in the light of paleogeograph i c 



data the abrupt breaking-out from the habitat by 



A series of varieties, including several some widely distributed species of rept 



new ones in the study of lizard species and sub- Thus, S. A. Chernov (l95^) explained the distri- 



species, were first recorded in our country. bution break-ou.t of some species of lizard and 



While A. M. Nikol'skiy reported only 23 species snake in the northern Caspian Sea area by the 



of amphibian and 127 species of reptile; at the fluctuation of the latter body during the Quater- 



present time in the USSR 33 of the former and 132 nary period. I. S. Darevskiy ( 1 959) demonstrated 



of the latter are known. the possibility of the penetra*ion into the 



Caucasus of the series of luran (Central Asian) 



