Descriptive Catalogue of the Reptiles of British India e-bog

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. 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.<br><br>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.