94 ME. G. A. BOULENGER OX THE EEPTILES 



As a member of the OiRcial Scientific Mission, M. Lataste visited Tunisia in 1884, 

 arriving at Tunis on the 1st April. The greater portion of his stay was spent on the 

 Gulf of Cabes and the Island of Djerba (April 13th to May 25th). He then marched 

 from Cabes, through Tozzer, Taferma, Gafsa, Feriana, and Tamesmida to Tebessa in 

 Algeria (July 1st), whence he proceeded, by coach and rail, to Bona. 



On the occasion of the meeting of the " Association Fran^aise " at Oran, in April 

 1888, M. Lataste paid a second visit to that place, again exploring its environs, and 

 making an excursion to Ain Sefra, on the frontiers of the Sahara and Morocco. 



Besides the materials brouglit together by M. Lataste, the rich collection of the 

 British Museum has affbi-ded me much information, especially respecting Morocco. 

 And I have to tender my best thanks to my friends Dr. O. Boettger, of Frankfort-on- 

 the-Main, and Dr. F. Miiller, of Basle, for loan or gift of additional material. 



As to the scope of the present Catalogue. My object has been to give only so much 

 description and synonymy (together with a reference to a good figure, when such exists) 

 as is necessary to ensure correct identification of the species, and I hope the keys I have 

 given will prove to work satisfactorily for that purpose. In a few cases I have had to 

 enter into discussions on the value of certain characters, and for some little- known 

 species I have inserted fuller descriptive notes; but the distribution in Barbary of 

 the various forms has been dealt with as comprehensively as the data available at 

 present permit. 



I have accepted the geographical delimitation of this fauna as traced out by my 

 friend in his Catalogue of Mammalia, and for the reasons, purely practical, which he 

 has given in that work. For it goes without saying that the Sahara forms no part of 

 Barbary in a zoo-geographical sense, whilst the exclusion of the Cyrenaica, which, as 

 observed by Sir Lambert Playfair, must not be confounded with the Oases of the 

 Sahara, but is an island detached from the eastern spurs of the Atlas in the ocean 

 of the desert, is further justified from the fact that its herpetologicel fauna is still too 

 imperfectly known \ 



Natitral Divisions of Barbary. 

 The division of Algeria into three parallel zones, viz., the Tell, the High Plateaux, 

 and the Sahara, is so familiar as hardly to require a definition. The Tell is the region 

 which borders the Mediterranean, and includes the Lesser Atlas ; its fauna is essentially 



' A list of reptiles collected by G. Khumer around Bengazi in the Cyrenaica, and named by Dr. Eeichenow, 

 was published in 1883 in the Sitzungsb. Ges. naturf. Freunde Berlin (p. 149). The following species are 

 enumerated: — Chamaleon vulgaris, Hemidactylus verruculaius \_ = turcicits^, Agama savignyi, Lacerta mitraUs, 

 Acanthodactylus boskianns, A. lineomaculatus, Gongylus ocellatus, Zamenis Jlorulentus, Coronella {Macro- 

 ■protodon) hrevis [ = cuculla.ta, var.], Naia Jiaie, Biifo variabilis \^ = viridis']. 



The record of Lacerta mw-alis is of especial interest ; that of AcantJiodaetiflus lineomaculatus may be due to 

 confusion with A. pardalis ; and the so-called Agama savignyi is probably A. inermis. 



