The Reptiles Of British India

Excerpt from The Reptiles of British India The coincidence of several most favourable circumstances, which seemed to promise a fair success, induced me to entertain the idea of making the Reptilian fauna of British India the subject of a special work; and I was confirmed in this, as I had frequent opportunities of observing that such a work would supply a real want among a class of men residing in India, who, imbued with a desire to promote Natural History knowledge, are deterred by the want of a work which would guide them in their first steps to acquainting themselves with objects coming daily under their notice, and which would show them where and how new facts may be gathered. As this work is the first attempt to comprise the entire Reptilian fauna of the continent of the Indian region, it must be in many respects incomplete, although I trust it will form a basis for the labours of future times. Every one who makes the fauna of a country an object of special study has a triple task before him: first, to distinguish and systematically to arrange the species as exactly as possible; secondly, to make himself acquainted with their habits; and, thirdly, to ascertain the geographical range of each variety, of each species, of each genus. A perfect knowledge of the species is the first condition, without which progress in the two latter respects is impossible; and it is much more the part of that zoologist who is furnished with a complete series of the objects for repeated comparison and examination, and has access to the thousand volumes through which descriptions and notes are scattered, than of the naturalist and collector who has the opportunity of observing the animals in their natural haunts; on him mainly devolves the fullfillment of the two latter tasks; but scarcely anything has been done in this respect as far as the Indian Reptiles are concerned, and therefore my work, in its present shape, is one of abstract science. I have enjoyed the great advantage of unlimited access to collections accumulated in this country from the time of Russell. A considerable number of the types used by this pioneer in Indian Ophiology are still preserved in the collections of the British Museum and of the Royal College of Surgeons; the types, with a very few exceptions, of the species described by Shaw, Gray, and myself, form part of the collection of the British Museum. Cantor had sent invaluable collections, containing his types, to the University of Oxford, where a part of the specimens, with his early manuscripts and drawings, are still preserved, and at a later period to the Museum of the East India Company, which contained also a number of the types sent by Kelaart and Griffith. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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Excerpt from Descriptive Catalogue of the Reptiles of British India In compiling the present Catalogue my object has been to meet a want which at present blocks the way to the general study of Herpetology in India, and to supply in an accessible and portable form such a condensed description of our Indian Reptiles as may enable any one interested in the Fauna of his locality to acquaint himself with the Reptiles he meets with. Some such work, indeed, as that now offered, is the indispensable precursor of a more complete and exhaustive work, for which, at present, our materials are wholly inadequate; and the main benefit I anticipate from the present publication is, that it may be the means of conducing to the formation of a large mass of notes, especially such as refer to distribution of species, from men who are at present unable to make trustworthy observations simply from the bulky or inaccessible nature of the books which treat of this division of the animal kingdom. The present Catalogue is based on Gunther's Monograph, published by the Ray Society in 1864. But though a great addition has been made to the Indian Reptile Fauna since that period, yet the total number of species in the present Catalogue will not greatly exceed those described by Gunther, from the fact that considerably more than 100 species (exclusive of Hydrophidae which with Batrachia I do not at present intend to include), enumerated by Gunther, are excluded by me on geographical grounds. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."