66 , 
KEPTILIA. 
((jX 2 ij,=iScincustelfairiiy Desj.), and that remarkable Snake, C«- 
sarea dussumieri (D. &B.). 
India. The Recorder has particular pleasure in referring to 
several publications on Indian Herpetology which appeared in 
the course of last year. Zoologists resident in the country have 
begun to pay attention to this branch ; and although the deter- 
mination of the species appears to be still attended with diffi- 
culty, owing to the want of a good central collection of well- 
authenticated specimens, the accounts and descriptions have 
become much more precise and trustworthy. Of course many 
additions to the synonymy continue to be made ; but this disad- 
vantage is fully counterbalanced by the supplementary informa- 
tion we receive with regard to species previously known. 
1. E. Nicolson : ^Indian Snakes: an elementary treatise on 
Ophiology, with a descriptive Catalogue of the Snakes found in 
India and the adjoining countries.^ Madras, 1870, 8vo, pp. 118. 
This little book is useful for the purpose for which it is published, 
namely, to furnish residents in India with an introduction to the 
study of Snakes. 
2. The Reptiles in the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 
have been examined by Mr. W. Theobald ; and a catalogue of 
them is published as an extra number of the ^ Journal of the 
Asiatic Society^ for 1868 (it reached England in 1870). Some 
twenty species are described as new ; but the majority of those of 
them which since have been critically examined by others have 
proved to be known and even common species. This catalogue 
is not without inaccuracies, but ought to be consulted by all 
those who require information on species imperfectly described 
by Blyth. Unfortunately not a few of the typical specimens 
appear to have been lost. 
3. Capt. Beddome continues, as we hear, his herpctological 
studies ; but no publication of his appears to have reached this 
country. 
4. Mr. T. C. Jerdon has published ^^Notes on Indian Herpeto- 
logy'^ in Proc. As. Soc. Beng. 1870, pp. 66-85. These notes 
are preliminary to a general work on Indian Reptiles which the 
author is preparing for the press ; and as he intends to compare 
for this object his specimens with those in the British Museum, 
we refer in the special part of this Record only to certain more 
important results of his observations. 
5. Dr. F. Stoliczka's ^^Observations on some Indian and Ma- 
layan Amphibia and Reptilia," in Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1870, 
pp. 134-228, pis. 9-12, and Proc. As. Soc. Beng. 1870, pp. 272- 
275, are evidently the result of careful study. He gives a list of 
29 species from the Andaman and of as many from the Nicobar 
Islands. Eighty- four other Reptiles and Amphibians from 
various localities are noticed and described in this paper. 
6. Finally, Mr. W. T. Blaneord gives Notes on some Reptilia 
