vi INTRODUCTION. 
The number of species of Chelonians, regarded as well established, 
amounts to 201. The Collection contains representatives of 176, 
the number of specimens being 1665. Gray’s ‘ Hand-list,’ issued in 
1873, records 197 species and 1371 specimens. During the prepa- 
ration of this Catalogue the series of skeletons has been greatly 
enlarged. 
23 species of Emydosaurians appear to be well established, 
18 of which are represented in the Collection by 236 specimens. 
Since the publication of the ‘Hand-list,’ in which 23 species and 
304 specimens are enumerated, a number of defective or duplicate 
specimens have been eliminated; this accounts for the decrease 
in the number of specimens, as well as the fact that, through over- 
sight, the same specimens were occasionally put down in the 
‘ Hand-list’ under different specific headings, and extracted skulls 
or other detached portions of one and the same individual were 
reckoned as so many specimens. 
As in the other volumes of the Catalogues, the affixes to the names 
of Donors &e., in the third column of the list of specimens, may be 
explained as follows :—‘“[P.]” signifies ‘‘ Presented by”; ‘‘[C.]” 
=‘ Collected by”; “[H.]”=“ Obtained in exchange.” 
G. A. BOULENGER. 
Department of Zoology, 
December 17, 1888. 
