652 DR. J. ANDERSON ON REPTILES AND [June 18, 



Chamceleoii calcarifer, Peters, Monat. Berl. Ac. 1870, p. 110 (foot- 

 note) ; Eeise n. Mossamb. iii. (1882) p. 22, pi. iv a. ; Sclater, J!de 

 Boulenger, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lend. 1885, p. 717 et p. 833 ; Boulenger, 

 Cat. Lizards B. M. iii. 1887, p. 444; Mocquard, C. E. Soc. Philom. 

 1895. 



3 c? and 1 $ . Shaikh Othman. 



1 (S . Haithalhim. 



Ten years ago Colonel Terbury presented a large chameleon to 

 the British Museum. He captured it on a bush, on the east bank 

 of the Toban river, beyond Isfian near Aden. Mr. Boulenger 

 identified it as the Clmmceleon calcarifer^ Peters, founded on a 

 chameleon which Peters had received, in November 1843, from 

 Lieut. Barnard of H.M.S. 'Cleopatra' while the vessel was 

 lying in the Bay of Bembatooka on the west coast of Madagascar. 

 Peters in his description of the species gives Madagascar as its 

 habitat. More than half a century has elapsed since Peters obtained 

 the lizard, but although the island has been largely explored by 

 various naturalists, and many new species of chameleons have been 

 discovered, not a trace of this large and fine species has been forth- 

 coming, whereas, on the other hand, chameleons presenting all the 

 features of C. calcarifer, and agreeing well with Peters's figure, 

 have been recorded from Aden. Mr. Boulenger has examined the 

 type of C. calcarifer and, as has been just stated, has identified them 

 with it. On the other hand Mr. Matschie, who has also received 

 this large chameleon from Aden and who has free access to the 

 type of G. calcai-ifer preserved in the Berlin Museum, regards it 

 as a species distinct from C. calcarifer and has named it O. arahicum. 

 But in arriving at this conclusion he seems to have been somewhat 

 influenced by Peters's statement that its native country was 

 Madagascar. 



In order if possible to throw some light on the origin of Peters's 

 chameleon, I applied to the Lords of the Admiralty for permission 

 to examine the log of H.M.S. ' Cleopatra,' preserved in the Eecord 

 Office. This was granted to me. This ship, under the command 

 of Captain C. Wyvill, sailed from England on the 15th July, 1842, 

 and Lieut. T. L. Barnard, Professor Peters's friend, is mentioned in 

 the log as accompanying the ship. The ' Cleopatra ' went to the 

 Cape and was engaged in cruising along the coast of Africa from 

 Natal to Zanzibar, the latter port being the furthest northern point 

 the vessel reached. The ship was frequently at Quillimane and at 

 Mozambique, and appears to have been engaged, among other duties, 

 in suppressing the Slave trade. On the 24th Sept., 1843, it was off 

 Zanzibar, and left it on the 10th October of the same year, returning 

 by Mohilla, Johanna, to Port St. Sebastian, Mozambique, where 

 the vessel arrived on the 26th October. On the following day it 

 again sailed, and in the log the entry is " running for Bembatooka 

 Bay." It anchored off Majunga on the 30th Oct., and on the 1st 

 November the boats were sent ashore for bullocks and vegetables. 

 The day following, its course was directed to Nossi Be, at the north- 

 western end of Madagascar, 



