Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)

Phylum Vertebrata 169 tile species, in line with the published data (DANKOVICS 1995a and 1996). The studies were extended in 1997 to the whole of Vas County (DANKOVICS 1997 and 1999). DANKOVICS also reported on the findings of herpetofaunistic monitoring surveys in Vas County. Charting the occurrences and breeding rounds in the Őrség continued, with a new location for the crested newt (Triturus cristatus) being found on the edge of Apátistvánfalva. Surveying the distribution of the wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) began in the Kőszeg Hills. During the surveys, the sloughed skin of an Aesculapian snake (Elaphe longissima) was discovered and so was a live specimen (DANKOVICS 2000). In 2001, the occurrence of the green lizard (Lacerta viridis) and sand lizard (L. agilis) on Kis-Somlyó Hill was demonstrated and the presence of the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) was confirmed. The latter two species also occur on Ság Hill. Several new locations for wall lizard were found in the Kőszeg Hills (DANKOVICS 2001a). TIBOR KELEMEN (2000, 2001a and 2002) reported on the frog/toad-rescue campaigns that have been taking place at a busy road on the edge of Balogunyom for several years. The campaign in the spring of 2000 saved more than 800 specimens, of which most (750) were common toads (Bufo bufo). The early arrival of spring in 2001 meant that the migration occurred two weeks sooner than usual, peaking on March 25, but 336 specimens were saved. Drought in recent years has been reducing the populations of frogs and toads in the district, so that only 96 specimens (70 of them common toad) could be rescued in 2000. Distribution records for the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) in the Carpathian Basin are summarized by GYÖRGY О. DELY (1966). The list of locations includes published references as well (FEJÉRVÁRY-LÁNGH 1943a; DELY 1967; SZABÓ 1959a and 1962). Several college and university students in recent years have chosen the incidence or biology of fire salamander as material for a dissertation (DANKOVICS 1998; ILLÉS 2000; JENEY 2001), studying also the patterns of the skin. The pattern is presumably characteristic of individuals and hardly varies with age, although this has yet to be proved. Characteristic patterns may occur and recur in certain populations. For instance, plain reddish or purple patches are not typical of specimens in the Kőszeg Hills but spots above the eyes and parotid mottle on the parotid glands are common there (DANKOVICS 2001b). An article cites data on the slowworm (Anguis fragilis), which the author mentions as occurring in the West Hungarian border region at Sopron, Fertőrákos, Szakonyfalu and Szőce. He states that the subspecies A. fragilis fragilis also occurs west of the line of the Danube (DELY 1974). FRANZ WERNER, in the first herpetological works covering the region, recorded observations of the meadow viper (Vipera ursinii) in Vas County, without specifying a location. This was published by LAJOS MÉHELY (1894b and 1895) and appears also in Fauna Regni Hungáriáé (MÉHELY 1918b) and elsewhere (MÉHELY 1911 and 1912; LOVASSY 1927). The location given in Fauna Hungáriáé is Kispöse (Gyöngyösfalu) (DELY 1978). The single meadow viper specimen in Natural History De-