Abstract
THE idea of supplying the “field-naturalists of the British Isles” with a handbook dealing with the life-history of the native snakes and their distribution is an exceller one. The existing treatises on British reptiles are either antiquated or compiled by writers insufficiently versed in the subject. It is only regrettable that Dr. Leighton, whilst engaged in the preparation of this little work, which contains much interesting matter, should not have made himself more thoroughly acquainted with what has been published on the subject, in England at least, as we notice the omission of important information which might have been obtained through reference to the volumes of the Zoologist and to the British Museum Catalogue of Snakes, of which he appears to be ignorant. The descriptions of the three species which make up the British ophidian fauna are inadequate, and this is all the more to be regretted since many points of structure and coloration which are subject to variation would have afforded an important topic in which to arouse the interest of the field-naturalist.
The Life-History of British Serpents and their Local Distribution in the British Isles.
By Gerald R. Leighton Pp. xvi + 383. 8vo. Illustrated. (London: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1901.) Price 5s. net.
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B., G. The Life-History of British Serpents and their Local Distribution in the British Isles . Nature 64, 624–625 (1901). https://doi.org/10.1038/064624a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/064624a0
