1895.] ON REPTILES AST> BATRACHIAKS EEOM ADEK. 635 



6. On a Collection of Reptiles and Batrachians made by 

 Colonel Yerbury at Aden and its Neighbourhood. By 

 John Anderson, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived June 18, 1895.] 

 (Plates XXXVI. & XXXYII.) 



Colonel Yerbury has presented this collection to the British 

 Museum, and I have to express my indebtedness to Dr. Giinther 

 for having entrusted its description to me, and also to Mr. Bou- 

 lenger for his assistance and advice. It contains examples of 

 17 species of Lizards, 5 Snakes, and 3 Batrachians. 



The specimens were collected at the following localities besides 

 Aden itself, viz. : Shaikh Othman, five or six miles inland ; the 

 oasis of Lahej, 20 miles from Aden ; and Haithalhim, 25 miles 

 distant from the rock. 



Considering that Aden has been in the possession of this 

 country since 1839, it is rather remarkable that we are only now 

 beginning to know something about its fauna, and very slow 

 progress seems to attend the elucidation of its flora \ The litera- 

 ture bearing on its Reptiles and Batrachia can be summarized in a 

 few words. 



In Mr. Boulenger's Catalogue of the Lizards in the British 

 Museum, only Pristurns crudfer, Val., and Chamceleon calcarifer, 

 Peters, are recorded with Aden as a locality, and in the first 

 volume of Snakes the only species mentioned from Aden is 

 Zamenis rliodorhachis, Jan. 



Professor Boettger", in 1892, recorded the occurrence of 

 Gymnodactylus scaher, Heyden, Hemidactijlus coctcei, Dum. & 

 Bibr. = H. jiuviinridis, Eiippell, Sdncus hempiicliii, Wiegm., 

 Chalddes ocellatus, Forskal, Zamenis Jadacensis, Andr. = R. rho- 

 dorTiachis, Jan, and EcJiis carinata, Schneider ; and in the 

 following year Herr Matschie^ added six other species, collected 

 by Mr. Oscar Neumann, to those already known, viz. : — Mabuia 

 pidchra, Matschie, = M. hrevicollis, Wiegm., Acantliodactylus 

 hosldanus, Daud., PMIocTiortus neumanni, Matschie, = Laiastia 

 neumannif Matschie, Lytorliynclms diadema, D. & B., Bufo ardbicus, 

 E-iipp. (?= Bitfo pentoni, Andr.), and Rana eJirenbergi, Peters, = 

 Rana cyanojjJilyctis, Schneider. 



In Colonel Yerbury's collection there are specimens of 1 1 species 

 of Reptiles new to the fauna oE Aden and its neighbourhood, and 

 one Toad. Of the former, three are new to science. 



I am indebted to Colonel Yerbury for some interesting notes 

 on the occurrence and habits of many of the species. I have 

 indicated his observations by inverted commas. 



^ My brother wrote his ' Florula A'denensis ' so long ago as 1856, and I am 

 informed, on the best authority, that only very trifling additions have been 

 made to it since. 



^ Ber. Offenb. Ver. 1892, pp. 61-63. ' SB. nat. Fr. 1893, pp. 27-31. 



