Catalogue of Colubrine Snakes in the Collection of the British Museum

Description:

Facsimile reprint of the original 1858 edition. An important early systematic catalogue of snakes by Albert Carl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther (1830-1914), one of the leading nineteenth-century zoologists and for many years Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum. The work catalogues approximately 3,100 specimens in the British Museum collection, arranged systematically, with descriptions and information concerning their provenance and collection history. Gunther also incorporated knowledge of specimens in other collections and identified species then lacking from the national collection, making the work substantially more than a simple inventory. Of particular interest is Gunther's approach to the definition of species. He opposed the proliferation of inadequately founded new species and preferred, where evidence was uncertain, to recognise forms as varieties rather than burden zoological nomenclature with what might prove to be nominal species. The catalogue consequently provides an important insight into the development of nineteenth-century reptile taxonomy as well as documenting the rapidly expanding collections of the British Museum.

Condition

Fine in d/w.