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Show 1871.] DR. J. E. GRAY ON TORTOISES. 515 Secondly, except nine specimens of Tortoises which Mr. Theobald gave to the museum, the museum purchased the collection which Mr. Theobald formed, from a dealer, to w h o m he had sold it, as a collection of Pegu reptiles. None of the Tortoises had any special habitat of any kind attached to it; and the heads were not marked as coming from any particular species ; so that if I made any mistakes in the habitats, or in saying the " thorax was unknown" of a head, it arose from the negligence of the collector, which is more unaccountable as we have since learnt that the collection consisted not only of the specimens Mr. Theobald collected in Pegu, but also of specimens that came from elsewhere, and which he obtained in exchange for other specimens from the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Mr. Theobald is not quite correct when he says I give " India" as the locality of Scapia falconeri. I gave India with a ?, and I gave the reason why I thought it might come from that country, and at the same time expressed m y doubts. It is just the same with some of the other observations on the habitats. Thirdly, Mr. Theobald says he has no confidence whatever in the distinctness of species based on skulls only. My experience, which has been very considerable, has led to a very different conclusion; and Mr. Theobald did not seem to be aware of their importance in the distinguishing of the species of Trionyx and Batagur when he published his paper on the reptiles of Pegu, in the ' Journal of the Linnean Society,' vol. x. p. 16, or in the ' Catalogue of the Reptiles of Pegu,' else he certainly would have given more distinct characters to his species. 1. TESTUDO INDICA. Mr. Theobald objects to this specific name. There is a very large number he can choose from ; for, unfortunately, this species has been described under a number of names ; but I prefer not to change one which is so well known, and which was the first given to it. 2. TESTUDO (SCAPIA) FALCONERI. Mr. Theobald observes " that in default, therefore, of more exact information, the evidence before him pointed to the conclusion that the skull whereon T. falconeri, Gray, had been based was no other than the identical skull of T. phayrei, Blyth, missing from the Calcutta Museum." The only evidence there appears to be is, that there is a specimen of T. phayrei without a skull in that museum. There does not appear in the paper to be any attempt at comparing the figure of the skull with the head of the other, perfect specimen of this species in the museum, which, one would have supposed, a zoologist would have done before he made such a suggestion. 1 should be very glad to hear that such a comparison had been made, either with the head of the perfect specimen, or, what would be better, with fresh skulls of this Tortoise, which does not |