NIAS. 17 



garding the herpetology of three of these. They are Nias, Engano, and one of 

 the Mentawei Archipelago. 



In 1885 J. G. Fischer reported on a small collection of reptiles and amphi- 

 bians from Nias (Abh. Naturw. ver. Hamburg, 1885, 9, 1, p. 3-9, 1 taf.). Four 

 years later E. Modigliani contributed a fuller list with a bibliography (Ann. 

 Mus. civ. Gen., 1889, ser. 2, 7, p. 113-124, tav. 1). Finally, van Lidth de Jeude 

 described a collection of sixteen reptiles, three of which were new to Nias, and 

 added a further bibliography (Notes Leyden mus., 1890, 12, p. 253-256). These 

 three papers between them cover fully our knowledge of the local cold-blooded 

 land vertebrates. 



The island itself is not a large one, being only about seventy miles in greatest 

 length by from twenty to thirty miles wide. It is about fifty miles distant 

 from the nearest point of the Sumatran coast, and the charts show that it is 

 more or less mountainous throughout. The strait does not show any great 

 depth of water, though the soundings are few. These run from 20 to 47 fathoms, 

 while in one spot we find 50 {i. e. no bottom at fifty). North and south of the 

 island there are considerable depths of water, 376 fathoms just south between 

 Nias and the Batu Islands, and 335 fathoms to the north, near the Banjak group. 

 So it is very probable that the connection of this island with Sumatra has been 

 direct and not through other islands lying either to the north or south of it. 



The reptiles and amphibians are purely Sumatran; there is one fresh-water 

 turtle. Fourteen lizards occur, of which one, Aphqniotis acutirostris Modi- 

 gliani, is known only from Sumatra, Nias, and Mentawei; all of the others occur 

 elsewhere as well as in Sumatra. Snakes on Nias are more abundant in number 

 of species than either of the other groups of reptiles. There are no less than 

 thirty-two species recorded, all of which except two occur in Sumatra. Three 

 species are, so far as we know, confined to Sumatra and Nias. They are Oligodon 

 trilineatus (Dum. & Bibr.), Calamaria stahlknechti Stoliczka, and Enhydris 

 alhomaculata (Dum. & Bibr.). The two species which occur in Nias and else- 

 where, but have not yet been found in Sumatra, are Calamaria lumhricoidea 

 Boie and Haplopeltura hoa (Boie). These will probably be found in Sumatra 

 when we know the island more thoroughly. The former species is known from 

 Nias and Java; the latter from the Malay Peninsula, the Philippines, . Nias, 

 Borneo, and Java. 



Nine amphibians occur upon the island, among them the burrowing Ich- 

 thyophis glutinosus (Linne), Bufo claviger Peters, which is confined to Nias 

 and Sumatra, the small and delicate Microhyla achatina (Boie), and other species 



