AND 



Jfblj 0f tlje §ristol gislrkt. 



By II. J. CHARBONNIER. 



THE first thing that strikes one on beginning the study 

 of our local reptiles is the small nnmber of the British 

 species. 



Whereas of 623 European birds, the British list contains 

 363, more than half — and of 175 species of European mam- 

 mals, there arc sixty-six British species, ratliei' moi'e than 

 ono-tliird, — of European reptiles, of which thei'e are, includ- 

 ing the amphibia, eighty-eight species, only twelve belong 

 to Great Britain, only one-eighth of the number. 



Doubtless their limited means of locomotion have tended 

 to isolate our reptile fauna ; the banicr of the sea, and the 

 gradually moi'o unfavourable conditions of niarsh lands 

 being di'ained and reclaimed, the surface drainage arising 

 from the sinking of mines and other similar causes, all 

 seem to tend to their eventual extinction. 



Some reptilian orders, as the Testudinata (tortoises), of 

 which there are eight Eai'opcan species, are quite ab.sent. 



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