Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)
168 Phylum Vertebrata Hungarian Ornithological Society and the Kaán Károly Eco-Club at what is now the University of Western Hungary in Sopron, helped by nature-reserve wardens and local volunteers (KÁRPÁTI 1988a and 1988c). Over a total of more than 300 days during those migration seasons, about 993,900 animals were conducted over the public road that crosses the migration route. An account of the operations was given by TAMÁS FRANK and associates (FRANK et al. 1991). Data are also available for the rescue work in the autumn of 1991 and the spring of 1992 (ANON. 1992a). In the autumn of 1992, a smaller number of volunteers meant that film laid to divert the animals could only be laid along a shorter stretch of the road. Partly for this reason, it is thought that about 1,000 grass snakes (Natrix matrix) were run over by vehicles as they crossed the road (MOGYORÓSI and FERSCH 1993). A detailed account of the herpetofauna in the Sopron district was provided by MIKLÓS MARIÁN and GYÖRGY TRASER (1978), who conducted their researches in 1970-75, mainly in the Váris upland area of the Sopron Hills. Apart from gathering faunistic data, they also studied details of the life history of the species examined. They found 13 species of amphibian and 6 reptile species and two variants in the vicinity of Sopron, but failed to confirm the presence of the meadow viper (Vipera ursinii). Distribution records for the dice snake (Natrix tessellata) around Sopron (Tómalom) were reported by FEJÉRVÁRY-LÁNGH (1943b), based on the work of HECHT (1930) and WERMER (1935), but this species has not recently been found in the territory either. LÁSZLÓ VARGA (1991) demonstrated the presence in Vas County of several rarer species of amphibian and reptile. He found fire-bellied toads (Bombina bombina) in seasonal streams at Cák quarry, quite a large population of Alpine newts (Triturus alpestris) in several seasonal streams in the Vendvidék (at Felsőszölnök and Szakonyfalu), and a small number of crested newts (T. cristatus, subspecies unspecified) in the Őriszentpéter district. The distribution records for reptiles and amphibians gathered by ANDRÁS VARGA (1995) over a ten-year period include some from the West Hungarian border region (B. bombina, Rana dalmatina, R. esculenta complex and Lacerta agilis). All the anurans known in the Hungary (12 species) and two urodeles —the common newt (Triturus vulgaris) and crested newt (Г. cristatus) —occur in the planned Csörnöc Landscape Conservation Area. The common frog (Rana temporaria) and yellow-bellied toad (Bombina variegata) are typical species of the cool valleys of streams (Kocsis 1991; VARGA 1991; SZINETÁR and GYURÁCZ 1993; SZINETÁR 1994a and 1994b). The reptile fauna consists of 7 species (VARGA 1991; SZINETÁR and GYURÁCZ 1993; SZINETÁR 1994a and 1994b). Much the same applies to the environs of Nagy-tó (Great Lake) at Tömörd, where all the anurans, as well as the sand lizard (Lacerta agilis), slowworm (Anguis fragilis) and grass snake (Natrix natrix) are found (BÁNHIDI 1986; BÁNHIDI et al. without date). RÓBERT DANKOVICS examined the amphibian and reptile fauna during the Natural History of the Őrség research programme, recording the presence of 14 amphibian and 5 rep-
