Dr. G. Baur on Meiolaiiia. 37 



III. — On Meiolania and some Points in the Osteologj/ of the 

 Testndinata: a Reply to Mr. O. A. Boidenger. By Dr. 

 G. Baur. 



[Plate VI.] 



In tlie February number of the ' Annals and Magazine of 

 Natural History ' I tind some remarks by Mr. G. A. Boulen- 

 ger in reply to my article on the systematic position of 

 Meiolania published in the January number. Nearly all the 

 comments of Mr. Boulenger need an answer. 



1. "After having thought Miolania to be allied to Stauro- 

 typuSj Dr. Baur now regards this Chelonian as representing 

 a highly specialized branch of the true land-tortoises.''^ . . . 



Many people may think from this statement that I have 

 published such a view on Meiolania ; this I never did. The 

 fact is that during my visit in London last August and Sep- 

 tember I had some talk with Mr. Boulenger on Meiolania. 

 I said that the skull looks very much like that of 8'aurotypus, 

 and showed to Mr. Boulenger the cervicals of Staurotypus 

 triporcatus, so kindly sent to me by Prof. v. Krauss for 

 examination ; this was all. I had not yet reached a definite 

 conclusion on the systematic position of Meiolania among the 

 Cryptodira when I left London ; this was only obtained here 

 after a careful examination and comparison. 



2. " Dr. Baur's theory of the specialization from a land- 

 Testudinoid, viz. a type with extremely reduced tail, with 

 procoelous vertebras and no chevrons " " is inadmissible." 



Of course Meiolania did not come from any of the living 

 forms of the Testudinidas. This I have clearly shown in my 

 remarks on the quadrate with an open fissure, which we find 

 in Meiolania. That some of the fossil Testudinidte, like 

 Hadrianus^ Cope, from the Eocene, showed such conditions 

 is possible, but we have no proof yet. Besides that, I think 

 it probable that after a careful study of the tails of the differ- 

 ent land-tortoises we may find conditions somewhat similar 

 to those in Meiolania. I only note Blyth's remarks on 

 ^^Scapiaj'' a form very much like Hadrianus. According to 

 him there is ''a group of five principal obtuse spines on either 

 side of the tail, the medial of them remarkably strong and 

 thick ; two or more smaller spines or thick elongate scales 

 above the tail." I do not know ^'■Scapia " * ; but these spines 

 seem to indicate a longer tail, as in the other Testudinidffi. 

 I think my discovery of opisthocoelian vertebras in a land- 



* Probably ouly a species of Manotiria, 



