ox THE PRESERVATION OF OUR NATIVE FAUNA. 807 



mongoose. The exhibitoi' referred to a recent note on the species 

 by Dr. Bahr in ' The Ibis' for April 1912, p. 293. 



Mr. G. A. BouLENGER, F.R.S., F.Z.S., read a paper entitled 

 " Second Contribution to our Knowledge of the Varieties of the 

 Wall-Lizard." This paper was a continuation of one jDublished 

 in the Society's ' Transactions ' in 1905, ti,nd dealt chiefly with the 

 variations of Lacerta miorcdis in Soath-Eastern Europe and South- 

 western Asia. It also contained a supplement to the first part, 

 thus completing an account of the varieties, of which about thirty 

 were regarded as more or less definable, the author endeavouring 

 to show the inconstancy of the characters adduced by some her- 

 petologists in assigning specific rank to a number of these forms, 

 connected by many gradations. Mr. Boulenger hoped to support 

 his statements by a number of photographic figures of specimens 

 selected out of the enormous material which had passed through 

 his hands in the course of his study of this polymorphic and widely 

 distributed lizard. 



This paper will be published in the ' Transactions ' in due 

 course. 



June 4, 1912. 



E. G. B. Meade- Waldo, Esq., Vice-President, 

 in the Chair. 



Mr. E. G. Boulenger, Curator of Reptiles, exhibited a clay- 

 ball containing a cocoon of the African Lung-fish {Protopterus 

 annectens) presented to the Society by Capt. J. A. M. Vipan, F.Z.S. 

 He briefly alluded to the habits of the fish and the formation of 

 the cocoon, and gave an account of the method to be employed in 

 order to release the fish. 



The Prese7'vation of the Native Fauna of Great Britain. 



Mr. E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, Vice-President of the Society, 

 introduced a discussion on the Preservation of our JSTative Fauna, 

 in which Mr. A. Heneage Cocks, Dr. F. G. Dawtrey Drewitt, and 

 Mr. Stewart Blakeney (who sent a written contribution) joined. 

 The necessity of creating public opinion on the matter was urged. 

 It was agreed that the laws with regard to birds were sufficient, 

 if administered strictly. With regard to mammals, it was the 

 opinion of those present that the use of steel traps, instead of 

 snares, for catching rabbits was chiefly responsible for the ex- 

 termination of wild cats, martens, and polecats in many parts of 

 the country, and ought to be suppressed. 



54* 



