| OCR Text |
Show 618 DR. A. GUNTHER ON REPTILES, BATRACHIANS, AND [Nov. 7, from Mr. Johnston through Mr. Sclater. The Reptiles and Batrachians, having been collected in nearly the same localities as those of the first consignment, represent the same species which were described in the first Report, but with the addition of several others new to the Nyasa district. They will be enumerated below. The most important portion, however, of this consignment consists of Pishes from Lake Nyasa. Since tbe year 1864, when I described tbe skins collected and prepared by Livingstone's companion, Sir J. Kirk (see P. Z. S. 1864, p. 303), nothing has been done to advance our knowledge of the Fish Fauna of this Lake. The only specimens which have reached m e were collected in 1891 by the Rev. J. A. Williams, who kindly presented thern to the British Museum ; they are noticed in the present report. The specimens collected by Mr. Whyte, the naturalist attached to Mr. Johnston's staff1, are unfortunately of small, many of very small size ; but they reveal the remarkable fact, which has also been observed in much smaller freshwater areas, like Lake Tiberias, that the genera Chromis and Hemichromis are represented in the same river-basin not by one or two, but by a considerable number of species closely allied to, but readily distinguishable from, each other. To judge from the manner in which these fishes were distributed in tbe collecting-jars, the various species inhabit the same localities. To the list of species already given in m y former report the following have to be added :- CHELONIANS : Cycloderma frenatum (Ptrs.) ; Stemothcerus sinu-atus (Smith). L I Z A R D S : Lygosoma sundevalli (Smith) ; Gerrhosaurus flavi-qularis (Wiegm.); Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau); Chamceleon dilepis (Gray); Chamceleon melleri (Gray). S N A K E S : Coronella olivacea, var. dumerilii (Gthr.) ; Basypeltis scabra (L.) ; Psammophis sibilans (L.) ; Psammophis sibilans, var. intermedia (Fiscb.) ; Ahcetulla neglecta (Ptrs.) ; Bryiophis oatesii (Gtbr.) ; Naja nigricollis (Rnhdt.) ; Causus rhomheatus (L.); Clotho rhinoceros (Schleg.). B A T R A C H I A N S : Bana johnstoni, sp. n.; Cassina senegalensis 1 [Mr. Alexander Whyte, F.Z.S., who fills the post of Naturalist and Horticulturist under Mr. Johnston in the Ceutral African Administration, is resident at Zomba, the seat of the Administration, which is situated on the south-east slope of Mount Zomba, close to the Mlungusi Stream, and is therefore in the watershed of Lake Shirwa, not in that of the Zambesi (see the article on Eoutes and Districts in Southern Nyasaland by Lieut. B. L. Sclater, R.E., in the ' Geographical Journal,' vol. ii. p. 419, Nov. 1893). In November 1891', Mr. Whyte accompanied H.B.M. Commissioner in a journey to Fort Johnston, which is situated on the east bank of the Upper Shire, about two milts below its exit from Lake Nyasa. It was upon this occasion that the collection of Fishes described by Dr. Giinther in the present paper was made, as I find by reference to his letters. Fort Johnston, Zomba, and most of the other localities from which Mr. Johnston's various collections have been received are shown iu the map (p 617) which has been reprinted (with emendations) from that in the ' Geographical Journal' for 1893, p. 249.-P. L. S.] |
