1891.] BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA. 305 



present know it, appears to be best divisible into three sections for 

 faunistic purposes ; these are : — 



1 . The Basin of the Shire below the cataracts, the fauna of which 

 is probably indentical with that of the Lower Zambesi. Katunga, 

 where the navigation of the Shire ends, is about 500 feet above the 

 sea-level. 



2. The Shire Highlands, in parts of which the hills run up to an 

 elevation of 8000 feet, and where we should accordingly expect to 

 find a considerable modification of the fauna. 



3. The Basin of Lake Nyassa, where the lake itself lies at an 

 elevation of about 1500 feet above the sea-level. The adjoining 

 ranges on the western side, which is alone in British territory, will 

 probably be found to possess a fauna nearly allied to that of the Shire 

 Highlands. 



Mr. G. A. BouLENGER then read the following paper "On the 

 State of our Knowledge of the Reptiles and Batrachians of British 

 Central Africa." 



As may well be expected, our information respecting the herpetolo- 

 gical fauna of this district is at present very meagre. The only 

 specimens with precise localities in the British Museum are derived 

 from five sources, viz.: — (1) 15 specimens from the Shire Valley, 

 fiurchased in 1864; (2) 11 specimens from the Blantyre Mission 

 Station, on the Shire highlands, and Lake Nyassa, collected by Mr. 

 F. A. Simons, purchased in 1877 ; (3) 5 specimens from Lake 

 Nyassa, collected by Mr. J. B. Thelwall, purchased in 1877 ; (4) 5 

 specimens from Lake Nyassa, purchased of Mr. Cutter in 1877; 

 (5) 7 specimens from Lake Nyassa, purchased of the Universities' 

 Mission in 1888. 



Most of the Snakes have been noticed by Dr. Giinther in a recent 

 paper on the Snakes of Tropical Africa (Ann. & Mag. N. H, [6] i. 

 1888, p. 322), in which two new species from Lake Nyassa and one 

 from the Shire are described, and most of the Lizards and Batra- 

 chians will be found mentioned in the British Museum Catalogues 

 (1882-1887). There are in addition a number of specimens in the 

 Museum which are labelled " Zambesi," or " Zambesi Expedition," 

 from Sir J. Kirk's collections, many of which were procured in the 

 district with which we are at present dealing. A report on these 

 Reptiles was published by Dr. Giinther in the ' Proceedings ' of this 

 Society for 1864 (p. 303). Owing to the absence of precise infor- 

 mation as to localities, I have abstained from mentioning them in 

 the list appended to this communication. Other works of special 

 importance in the study of this fauna are Peters's ' Reise nach 

 Mossambique,' vol. iii. Reptiles, 1882, and Bocage's numerous 

 papers in the " Jornal de Sciencias " of the Academy of Lisbon. 

 No doubt many of the Reptiles described from the Portuguese 

 possessions of South-west Africa will eventually be rediscovered to 

 the East, our knowledge being already sufficiently advanced to show 

 in a striking manner the homogeneity of the herpetological fauna of 

 Southern tropical Africa. 



