No. 2. — Reptiles from the Indian Peninsula in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. By John Davidson Constable CONTENTS PAGE Introduction 59 Gazetteer of Localities 61 Sources of Material 63 Acknowledgements 65 Summary of Taxonomic Alterations 65 List of Indian Reptiles in the Museum of Comparative Zoology 66 Systematic Discussion 73 Crocodiles 73 Chelonians 73 Lizards 79 Snakes 110 Bibliography 159 INTRODUCTION Since the earliest days of biology, taxonomy has been one of its most important branches. From the time of Aristotle men have been listing, naming, and classifying plants and animals, their attention largely confined at first to those plants or animals that were either very conspicuous or of use to man. Until relatively recently the majority of biologists have been taxonomists to some extent, although today such fields as physiology, development, and genetics, that often involve experimentation, m.ay have become more important than taxonomy. Taxonomy in itself may seem to be of rather little use, but it is an essential adjunct to other important areas of biology. I believe it to be, in general, a tool developed by scientists for their convenience and that therefore the rules and methods that are adopted for its development should be largely determined by their usefulness rather than by more or less abstract concepts of "natural distinctions." It may, for example, be true that two races of snakes can be dis-tinguished on the basis of differences in the hemipenis, but I consider
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