336 Iteptilia and Amphibia from Central India. [No. 4, 



Upon the information supplied to him by others, whilst a local 

 observer can largely supplement and correct the observations of 

 other men. 



I think that it adds greatly to the probability of my own views 

 to find that the localities of certain Eeptilia which were quoted by 

 Giinther in his Reptiles of British India, and which appeared 

 opposed in a very marked manner to the conclusions at which I had 

 arrived, have lately been shewn by Dr. Jerdon* to be errone- 

 ous. Amongst the most anomalous of these were the supposed oc- 

 currence of an Acanthodactylus at Coonoor on the Nilgiris and some 

 of the localities given by Dr. Giintheron the authority of the 

 Messrs. S c h 1 a g i n t w e i t, such for instance as the occurrence of 

 Eryx Johnii at a height of 9800 feet in Sikkim ! f This last assertion 

 I had noted in my copy of Gr u n t h e r ' s Eeptiles as incredible be- 

 fore I saw Dr. J e r d o n ' s remarks, a circumstance I think worth 

 mentioning as it shews that, probably from a different line of 

 argument, both Dr. Jerdon and I had arrived at the same con- 

 clusion. 



It is impossible for me here to enter at full length into the sub- 

 ject of the geographical distribution of the Indian fauna, but the 

 following short sketch will serve to shew its outlines. J 



I divide Peninsular India with Ceylon, from Biluchistan to a line 

 drawn to the north from the head of the Bay of Bengal, and in- 

 cluding all south of the Himalayas, but excluding the mountains 

 themselves, into the following principal divisions. The boundaries 

 of all require more exact determination. 



1. The Punjab province, including, besides the Punjab itself, 

 Sind, the desert country east of the Indus, Cutch and probably 

 western Pajpootana. The fauna, with a few exceptions, is of the 

 desert types. 



2. The Indian province proper. This includes all India§ east 

 of Delhi and Kattkiawar as far as the Pajmahal Hills, and the whole 



* Proc. As. Soc. Bengal, 1870, pp. 77 and 79. 



f Giinther Rept. Brit. India, p. 335. 



% I mentioned a few of the principal distinctions in a paper, read before the 

 British Association at Exeter in 1869. Vide Kept. Brit. Assn. 1869, p. 107. 



§ I employ the word India as meaning solely the country of the Hindus, 

 from whom it derives its name. All the countries to the East of the Bay of 

 Bengal differ to a most importaut extent in climate, zoology, botany, and eth- 



