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Show 1891.] BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA. 305 present know it, appears to be best divisible into three sections for faunistic purposes ; these are :- 1. The Basin of the Shire below the cataracts, the fauna of which is probably indentical with that of the Lower Zambesi. Katunga, where the navigation of the Shire ends, is about 500 feet above the sea-level. 2. The Shire Highlands, in parts of which the hills run up to an elevation of 8000 feet, and where we should accordingly expect to find a considerable modification of the fauna. 3. The Basin of Lake Nyassa, where the lake itself lies at an elevation of about 1500 feet above the sea-level. The adjoining ranges on the western side, which is alone in British territory, will probably be found to possess a fauna nearly allied to that of the Shire Highlands. Mr. G. A. BOULENGER then read the following paper "On the State of our Knowledge of the Reptiles and Batrachians of British Central Africa." As may well be expected, our information respecting the herpetolo-gical fauna of this district is at present very meagre. The only specimens with precise localities in the British Museum are derived from five sources, viz.: - (1) 15 specimens from the Shire Valley, purchased in 1864; (2) 11 specimens from the Blantyre Mission Station, on the Shire highlands, and Lake Nyassa, collected by Mr. F. A. Simons, purchased in 1877 ; (3) 5 specimens from Lake Nyassa, collected by Mr. J. B. Thelwall, purchased in 1877 ; (4) 5 specimens from Lake Nyassa, purchased of Mr. Cutter in 1877; (5) 7 specimens from Lake Nyassa, purchased of the Universities' Mission in 1888. Most of the Snakes have been noticed by Dr. Giinther in a recent paper on the Snakes of Tropical Africa (Ann. & Mag. N . H. [6] i. 1888, p. 322), in which two new species from Lake Nyassa and one from the Shire are described, and most of the Lizards and Batrachians will be found mentioned in the British Museum Catalogues (1882-1887). There are in addition a number of specimens in the Museum which are labelled " Zambesi," or " Zambesi Expedition," from Sir J. Kirk's collections, many of which were procured in the district with which we are at present dealing. A report on these Reptiles was published by Dr. Giinther in the ' Proceedings' of this Society for 1864 (p. 303). Owing to the absence of precise information as to localities, I have abstained from mentioning them in the list appended to this communication. Other works of special importance in the study of this fauna are Peters's ' Reise nach Mossambique,' vol. iii. Reptiles, 1882, and Bocage's numerous papers in the " Jornal de Sciencias " of the Academy of Lisbon. No doubt many of the Reptiles described from the Portuguese possessions of South-west Africa will eventually be rediscovered to the East, our knowledge being already sufficiently advanced to show in a striking manner the homogeneity of the herpetological fauna of Southern tropical Africa. |
