380 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



a Quail in Donegal. Mr. Brooke shot one at St. John's Point 

 in 1873, the only one he ever heard of in Donegal. (But see 

 Thompson, * Birds of Ireland.') 



Pallas's Sand Grouse, Syrrhaptes paradoxus, Pallas.— A 

 number of these birds visited Donegal in June, 1863. About 

 Dawross and Naran, and at Glenties, several were shot. Two 

 years later, Lord Francis Cunningham showed me stuffed speci- 

 mens which had been shot out of this flock. Another specimen 

 is in the National Museum. A still larger flight occurred in the 

 spring of 1888 from north to south of Ireland. An account of 

 this was given by Dr. Scharff in the ' Proceedings of the Royal 

 Dublin Society,' vol. vi. p. 278. 



(To be continued.) 



ON THE HERPETOLOGY OF THE GRAND DUCHY 



OF BADEN. 



By G. Norman Douglass. 



(Continued from p. 341.) 



II. Fam. CoLUBMDiE {continued). 

 As regards the wider distribution of Elaphis flavescens, Schlan- 

 genbad (whence the name) is the classical locality in Germany. 

 It was discovered here in 1817 by v. Heyden, and is very numerous, 

 a considerable trade being carried on by the country people in 

 supplying this snake to visitors. In the valley of the Moselle its 

 occurrence is well-nigh proved ; it also follows the Danube as far 

 north as Passau, though there is no notice of its existence there 

 since 1865. Reports of its capture in other parts of Germany 

 have proved to refer to escaped specimens, or are due to errors of 

 identification. 



It was the opinion of v. Heyden that the iEsculap Snake 

 had been imported by the Romans to their thermal stations ; at 

 the same time, on this assumption, its absence in similar localities 

 remains unexplained. There is further a note* to the effect that 

 some semi-fossilised vertebrae of a snake, found in Franconia, 

 have been attributed by Prof. Nehring to this species, which 

 would imply its former more extensive range. 



* Leydig, 'Thiero dos llhon,' &e., p. 114. 





