4 DR. J. ANDERSON ON MAMMALS, REPTILES, [Jan. 5, 



that a heavy fall of rain had caused the collapse of some of the mud- 

 houses of that oasis. While at Tlemgen, in the beginning of March, 

 after experiencing two delightful days of bright sunshine, during 

 which lizards began to show themselves, we were driven from it by 

 a storm of rain and sleet, accompanied by a biting wind from the 

 south-west, the direction from which these storms generally came, 

 that lasted for two days. About this period, the railways that run 

 southwards from Oran to the Sahara were blocked with snow. At 

 Oran the weather was equally unsettled, clear intervals of sunshine 

 alternating with days of heavy rain. At TNIilianah, on the morning 

 of the 18th March, we awoke to find the tops of the houses and 

 the ground covered with snow, and, during a previous storm, 

 towards the end of February, snow had fallen as low as Hainmam 

 R'irha. At Algiers we were delayed for thirteen days (19th March 

 to .'^Ist), waiting until the snow had disappeared from the 

 mountain in Kabylia on which Fort National stands. At Kharata, 

 at the head of the gorge Chabet el Akhira, we were storm-stayed for 

 three days, as torrential rains, lasting for two days, had carried away 

 parts of the road behind and in front of us. When we had arrived 

 on the treeless plateau on which Selif stands, the frost was so intense 

 on the morning (10th April) on which we left it, that every pool was 

 frozen. The evening of the day following our arrival at Biskra, the 

 wind rose with violence from the north accompanied by heavy rain 

 which continued through the night and part of the next day. The 

 Oued Biskra was so flooded by this storm from the Aures mountains, 

 that the route to Sidi Okha which lies across it was closed for a 

 day. My experience of an Algerian winter I was told was quite 

 exceptional ; but, since my return to this country, I have studied 

 with interest the reports of the weather experienced in Algeria last 

 winter, and I find that it bas been even more exceptional than the pre- 

 vious winter. Snow fell in Algiers itself, and so heavily in Tunisia that 

 native houses broke down under its weight, while some deaths from 

 cold were recorded. In the west also it was very severe, as some 

 anxiety was felt, during one of the storms, for an outlying village 

 near Tlemgen which had become completely isolated, by reason of 

 the snow that surrounded it. In connection with these observations 

 on the winter climate of Algeria, I observe M. Lataste mentions the 

 spring of 1881 was so little advanced by the middle of May, when 

 he was at Bougie, that he was com])elled to turn southwards. It 

 was only when we had travelled as far west as Hammam Meskoutiue, 

 removed somewhat from the direct influence of the storms that come 

 up from the Atlantic, that we began to experience genial weather and 

 bright sunshine, under the influence of which snakes and lizards began 

 to shake off the torpidity of winter, and by the time we had reached 

 Tunis, 30th April, the heat in the sun had become so great that I 

 abandoned the intention I had formed of gohig to Duirat, and sent 

 my collector there instead. 



I have given these details regarding the weather encountered in 

 Algeria in 1889-90 because the character of the winter climate 

 does not appear generally known, and as they serve to explain, to a 



