NOTES AND QUERIES. 19 



what I was able to observe in the way of Herpetology.* The 

 lack of accommodation in these islands is the chief drawback to 

 tourists ; and I will take this opportunity of again thanking Mr. 

 Narlian, of Lipari, for his kind hospitality during my stay there. 



(To be continued.) 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



The Marten in Norfolk and Suffolk.— Referring to Mr. Harting's 

 criticism of the opinion T ventured to express (Trans. Norf. and Nor. Nat. 

 iii., p. 668), that the recent examples of this species obtained in Norfolk 

 must be regarded as " escapes," and to my suggestion that it was possible 

 — as in the case of the Irish Martens which had escaped from confinement 

 in the South of England — for these accidental liberations to happen with- 

 out the fact being suspected, I fear that I have been misunderstood, as it 

 certainly was not my intention to imply that the isolated occurrences here 

 met with were individuals which had escaped in the South of England. I 

 merely mentioned that circumstance to show such a thing had occurred, and 

 that a parallel case might happen here quite unsuspected. That the Kelling 

 and Hevingham Martens were not native Norfolk animals I think Mr. 

 Harting's remarks go far to render probable, for I quite agree with him, to 

 use his own words, that " there are so many keen naturalists aud observant 

 sportsmen in Norfolk that it would be very difficult for any escaped Martens 

 to be at liberty without the fact becoming speedily known," and that is pre- 

 cisely what I believe happened in the cases referred to ; how much more 



* Of snakes, only Zamenis viridiflavus was observed on Stromboli and the 

 islet of Basiluzzo (the young already decidedly carbonarius), but it undoubt- 

 edly also occurs on the larger islands of Lipari, Vulcano, Salina, and Panaria. 

 Light-coloured ones — Tropidonotus ? — are reported to exist on Lipari. 



[The colour-perception of the islanders is not highly developed. Any- 

 thing light is bianco, dark nero.] 



L. muralis tiliguerta, dark on Stromboli and Vulcano, light on Lisca 

 Bianca; varying according to the soil on Lipari, where a fine rubriventris 

 race may be met with nearBagno Secco. I could not detect it on Lisca Nera, 

 which, I was afterwards told, is swept over by heavy seas ; but the hazardous 

 climb up this rock was rewarded by the discovery of a nest of Larus cachin- 

 nans, Pall., on the summit. The most brightly coloured and largest muralis 

 are to be seen on Panaria. Curious to say, this lizard is less shy in the 

 neighbourhood of villages than on the larger islands off the beaten track, 

 and quite unapproachable on the small islets. 



Panaria seems also to be the Eldorado of geckos (Platydactylus), where 

 in summer their numbers are said to be quite appalling. They are known as 

 " Salamide," and are reputed highly poisonous. This species occurs on all 

 the larger islands, while Hemidactylus verruculatus exists on Basiluzzo, 

 Dattilo, and, presumably, all the other islets, 



C3 



