396 
ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
[part III. 
to the region — with such remarkable developments as we have 
indicated in the kingfishers and pigeons, place the Australian 
region in the first rank for the variety, singularity, and interest 
of its birds, and only second to South America as regards 
numbers and beauty. 
Reptiles . — In Eeptiles the peculiarity of the main Australian 
region is less marked, although the fauna is sufficiently distinct. 
There is no family of snakes confined to the region, but many 
peculiar genera of the families Pythonidae and Elapidm. About 
two-thirds of the Australian snakes belong to the latter family, 
and are poisonous ; so that although the Crotalidae and Viperidae 
are absent, there are perhaps a larger proportion of poisonous 
to harmless snakes than in any other part of the world. Accord- 
ing to Mr. Gerard Krefft the proportion varies considerably in the 
different colonies. In Victoria., New South Wales, and Queens- 
land the proportion is about two to one ; in West Australia 
three to one; and in South Australia six to one. In Tasmania 
there are only 3 species and all are poisonous. The number 
of species, as in other parts of the world, seems to increase 
with temperature. The 3 in Tasmania have increased to 12 
in Victoria, 15 in South Australia and the same in West 
Australia ; 31 in New South Wales, and 42 in sub-tropical 
Queensland. 
The lizards of Australia have lately been catalogued by Dr. 
Gunther in the concluding part of the “Voyage of the Erebus 
and Terror,” issued in 1875. They belong to 8 families, 3 of 
which are peculiar ; 57 genera of which 36 are peculiar ; and 
about 140 species, all but 2 or 3 of which are peculiar. The 
scinks and geckoes form the great bulk of the Australian 
lizards, with' a few Agamidae, Gymnopthalmidae, and Varanidse. 
The three peculiar families are the Pygopodidae, Aprasiidae and 
Lialidse ; comprising only 4 genera and 7 species. The above 
all belong to Australia proper. Those of the other sub-regions 
are few in number and will be noticed under their respective 
localities. They will perhaps bring up the number of genera to 
70. West and South Australia seem to offer much peculiarity 
in their lizards; these districts possessing 12 peculiar genera. 
