CLASSIFICATION, FAUNA?. 
Itept, 3 
of the order Pythonomorpha, recently expressed by Professor Cope in 
Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv. ii. Prof. Cope adduces considerations in support 
of his proposition that, constituting a distinct order of the Streptostylicate 
group, these reptiles present more points of affinity to the Serpents than 
does any other order. He considers that five out of seven characters 
enumerated are sufficient to justify his conclusion that they are nearer to 
the Ophidia than are the Lacertilia^ premising, however, that the approxi- 
mation is not with extreme modifications of the order, but with the 
Tortricidce, Ei'ycida;, Scolecophidia, &c., which also approach the Lizards. 
FAUNiE. 
Europe. 
Bedriaga, J. V. On species and varieties of Lacerta, and general 
remarks on European lizards. Arch. f. Nat. xliv. pp, 128, 269-320. 
Braun, M. Lacerta lilfordi und Lacerta muralis. Arb. Inst. Wiirzb. 
iv. pp. 1-64, pis. i. & ii. 
An elaborate paper on these two lizards with notices of other species of 
Lacerta, and description of one as new. 
T. Heldretch, in “ La Faune de Grece,” Athenes, 1878, 8vo, gives a 
list of the reptiles found in Greece, pp. 61-77. 
Kessler, in “ Reisebriefe aus der Krym,’’ makes observations on the 
lizards of the Crimea; Bull. Mosc. liii. pt. 2, pp. 209-211. 
Asia. 
O. Bottger has given, in Z. ges. Naturw. (2) xlix. p. 285, a list of 16 
reptiles, 13 snakes and 3 lizards, from localities north of Beirut ; and a 
further account of Syrian reptiles consisting of redescriptions and geo- 
graphical particulars of 18 species, in Ber. Senck. Ges. 1878-79, pp. 57-84. 
Scientific results of the Second Yarkand Mission, based upon the col- 
lections and notes of the late F. Stoliczka. Reptilia and Amphibia by W. 
T. Blanford, Calcutta, 4to, 26 pp. 2 pis. The reptiles procured by Dr. 
Stoliczka in Eastern Turkistan which have been already recorded [see 
Zool. Rec. xii. p. 95], are now described at length with details and 
figures. 
New species of reptiles from the Himalayas and Burma are described 
by W. T. Blanford, J. A. S. B. xlvii. pt. 2, pp. 125-131. 
New Guinea. 
W. Peters & G. Doria give a classified catalogue of all the Reptiles 
and Batrachians collected by Beccari, D’Albertis, and Bruijn in the 
Austro-Malayan sub-region. In the introductory remarks some very 
severe criticisms are passed upon W. Macleay’s recent papers on the 
results of the ‘ Chevert * expedition [Zool. Rec. xiv. Rept. p. 4]. A 
number of new species are described and notices are given of many pre- 
viously known ones. Tables showing the geographical distribution in the 
different islands of all the species are appended. Ann. Mus. Genov, xiii. 
pp. 323-450, pis. i.-vii. 
