200 DR. N. ANNANDALE ON 



two faunas. Those from the North- West Frontier belong to the genera Agama, Phryno- 

 cephalus and Uromastix, all of which are typically Palsearctic and Ethopian ; while those 

 from Ramanad represent Calotes and Sitana, the first of which is confined to the Oriental 

 Region, while the second is peculiar to the Indian Peninsula, in which it is represented by 

 a single species. Further, the genus Lytorhynchus is essentially a northern genus, while 

 the species of Eryx which occurs on the North-West Frontier is not that of Peninsular 

 India but ranges from the north of Baluchistan to South-Eastern Europe and North 

 Africa. 



Of the species which occur on the Frontier and also in Ramanad, Echis carinatus is 

 found in " desert or sandy districts of Africa north of the equator ; Southern Asia, from 

 Transcaspia to India," but apparently not east of Bengal ; while Lycodon striatus 

 has only been recorded from Transcaspia, India and Ceylon. As the latter snake is 

 more abundant in the northern parts of India than in the southern, and more frequently 

 found in barren localities than in places with a luxuriant vegetation, we may probably re- 

 gard both it and Echis carinatus as originally northern and desert forms which have been 

 able, owing to some peculiarity of constitution, to survive in southern, and, in the case 

 of L. striatus, in rather damp localities, to which individuals have at some period made 

 their way. 



Regarding the species in the Ramanad fauna which are not represented even by 

 near allies in that of the North-West Frontier, the majority of them are true Oriental forms 

 widely spread in their own region. Such are Zamenis mucosas, which occurs throughout 

 Peninsular India, Ceylon, Burma, in Afghanistan, S. China, Siam, Malaya and Java; 

 Dendorphis pictus, a common Indo-Malayan and Ceylonese species ; Tropidonotus piscator, 

 with a range somewhat similar to that of D. pictus ; Naia tripudians, which is found all 

 over the Indo-Malayan countries and extends its range northwards into Persia, 

 Afghanistan and Turkestan; to a less extent, Dryophis mycterizans, occurring 

 throughout the greater part of India, Burma, and Ceylon, and in Siam ; and also 

 Hcmidactylus leschenaultii ', known from India, Ceylon, and Malaya. 



Leaving out of consideration two other species of Hcmidactylus, which, being house 

 Lizards, have an extremely wide adventitious distribution, there remains an element confined 

 to Peninsular India and Ceylon, and this may be further subdivided. In the first place we 

 have forms which occur practically all over the Peninsula. Of these the most noteworthy are 

 Testado elegans, Sitana ponticcriana and Chamceleon calcaratus. These three reptiles occur 

 almost everywhere in Peninsular India except in the lower Ganges plain and on the slopes 

 of the Himalayas. The Indian Chameleon is found on the west coast of the peninsula as 

 far north as Sind ; on the east coast it probably does not range much to the north of 

 the extreme south of Lower Bengal, but it is said to be common in Bihar and is certainly 

 abundant in Orissa, in the south of the peninsula and in Ceylon. Probably the climate 

 of Lower Bengal proper is too damp for the three species last mentioned, two of which 

 enjoy a sandy soil, while the Chameleon appears to avoid jungles which are very dense. 

 So far as it is possible to say, what is true of this species is also true of Calotes gigas, which 

 may be a race of Calotes versicolor in some way adapted for survival in places where vegeta- 

 tion is rather scanty, for even in Colombo, which always strikes the traveller as being so 



