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Show 532 LETTER FROM DR. J. E. GKAY. [Nov. 12, furcata and Gallinula galeata, Sarcidiornis regia, &c.; while others were thought by himself and Mr. Landbeck to be mere varieties, such as Rhynchotus punctulatus, Thinocorus ingee, Bubo crassirostris. Dr. Philippi likewise stated that he was engaged in preparing a Catalogue of the Birds of Chili, copies of which, when complete, would be forwarded. The following letter, addressed to the Secretary by Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., was read :- „ British M u s e u m? October 26, 1868. " M Y D E A R SIR,-In Dr. Bowerbank's Notes on my paper on Sponges in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1868, p. 133, I find, among other observations of a like kind, the following passage, which may fairly be cited as a sample of the value of the remainder:- " ' If it is to be tolerated that any naturalist shall get sight surreptitiously of the specimens belonging to another, and then describe, name, and publish them, as in the case of the genus Astrostoma, page 514, unknown to the owner, and without permission so to use them,' &c. " It is only necessary to state very simply the facts of the case to show how utterly baseless is this attack on m y honour and honesty. "In the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1862 Dr. Bowerbank described ' a specimen of a branched * sponge from the East Indies, presented to me by my friend Mr. S. P. Pratt,' and on plate 55, figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, he figures the sponge and its oscula. The peculiarities of this sponge and of its oscula having been referred to in the discussion on the structure of Hyalonema, I happened one day to be showing the figure to Mr. Tyler at the British Museum, when he informed me that he had part of the original specimen of it, Dr. Bowerbank (as he often did) having given it to him to mount portions of it. Some time afterwards he brought me specimens for examination; and as I found the oscula to be unlike those of any other sponge, I described it as a new genus, under the name of Astrostoma, in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1867, p. 514, referring to Dr. Bowerbank's paper and figures in the ' Philosophical Transactions.' " Dr. Bowerbank, with singular inconsistency, denies that I had seen the original specimen, ' as that had never passed out of his hands.' On which statement Mr. Tyler observed to me, when we met, in nearly the same terms as before, 'that the sponge was given to him to mount, that he made from it several preparations, both in balsam and dry, and that with Dr. Bowerbank's full knowledge and permission he had, as was his usual custom, kept those which he had shown to me.' * " In a former page of this communication to the Zoological Society, Dr. Bowerbank attacks m e in his usual vehement manner for describing this sponge as ' branched,' and says that 'it is a simple unbranched cylinder.' So loose, inaccurate, and contradictory are his statements in regard to the simplest matter of fact." |
