﻿60 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



have, I believe, now and then been introduced into private 

 ponds in the district (as at Redbraes, Edinburgh, see 

 Naturalists' Library^ vol. xxxiii., Brit. Fishes, 1843, p. 48), but 

 do not thrive. 



AMPHIBIA AND REPTILIA. 



For the sake of convenience I take these two classes 

 together. They were fully dealt with in a paper which I 

 read before this Society in 1894,^ and there is little of 

 importance to add to what I then wrote. The number of 

 species recorded remains the same, namely : — 



Eeptiles, three — Viviparous Lizard, Slow-worm, Adder 

 (I exclude the Einged Snake, which occurs only as an 

 escape 



Amphibians or Batkachians, six — Common Frog, the two 

 Toads (but the solitary record of the Natterjack is old and 

 not entirely free from question), and the three ISTewts. 

 Dr J. Beard tells me that he put some living Edible Frogs 

 {Rana esculenta) into a pond beside the Queensferry Road 

 (the marl-pit near Davidson's Mains probably) a year or two 

 ago. I mention this so that, should anyone find them in that 

 neighbourhood, their origin may be known. 



With the view of bringing the subject down to date, the 

 following records and observations are given by way of 

 supplement to my paper above referred to : — 



Common or Viviparous Lizard, Lacerta vivipara, Jacq. — 

 One, 3^ to 4 inches in length, was found in an old stone and lime 

 wall which was being taken down at Stobshiels, foot of the 

 Lammermoors, East Lothian, on 17 th September 1906. ISTone 

 of the people about the place had ever seen one before 

 (Mr C. C. Nisbet, in lit.) I still continue to see this little 

 reptile occasionally, at Bavelaw Moss (August 1904, etc.) 

 and a few other localities in Midlothian, but it is not 

 common in this neighbourhood. In April and May 1896 I 

 found it common enough, however, round about Aberfoyle, and 

 in September 1906 I observed a dark, half-grown one on a peat- 

 moss near the head of Glen Kelty, Callander. It is astonishing 

 how long the tail of a lizard continues to move after being cast 



^ "The Reptiles and Batrachians of the Edinburgh (Forth) District," 

 Proc. Boy. Fhys. Soc. Edin., vol. xii., pp. 490-526. 



2 In September 1899 one, which I saw, was killed in Canaan Lane, Morning- 

 side: it was known to be an escape. Other similar cases have recently 

 come to my knowledge. 



