Dr. G. Baiir on i\lciolaiiia. 41 



condition of the pterygoids than I am, " who, after examining 

 merely the cast, thinks the lateral expansion of the pterygoids 

 'may be produced by crushing of the edges.'" But ]\Ir. 

 Boulenger forgets to state that I remarked, " even if it [the 

 expansion] were natural, it would not beof great importance." 

 This is a great difference. I did not think only that the 

 edges are crushed ; I admitted the other possibility that they 

 are natural. I believe Mr. Boulenger when he says that they 

 are natural, but even then this makes no difference. Such 

 expansions are indicated in some of the Testudinida3 (conf. 

 Testudo elephantina^ Gilnther, ' Gigantic Land-Tortoises,' 

 pi, ix. fig. A) ; and, as I stated before, in the Chilotas we find 

 all conditions of these expansions. 



6. To Mr. Boulenger it seems extremely probable that 

 [in Meiolam'a] "the quadrate did join the basisphenoid, as in 

 Podoc7iemisy But I miss the reasons for this probability. 



7. " The back of the skull of Miolania is as typically 

 Pleurodiran as can be, and totally different from that of the 

 Testudinida3." The complete bony ring is " decidedly held 

 to be formed by the quadrate." Also here I miss the reasons. 



8. " How Dr. Baur has acquired his information respecting 

 the characters of the Pleurodiran cervical vertebrte as com- 

 pared with the Cryptodiran is a puzzle to " Mr, Boulenger. 



My information was acquired by the examination of many 

 hundreds of Testudinata in the museums of tliis country and 

 in Europe ; and I have not to change a single point in my 

 statements. 



I said, " 1. The centrum of the first vertebra [of the 

 Pleurodira] (the so-called odontoid process) is absolutely free 

 from the second, with which it articulates freely." In the 

 Cryptodira " it is not absolutely free from the second, but 

 more or less connected." 



This is the fact; if the cervical vertebree of a Pleurodiran 

 are macerated the centrum of the atlas becomes free from the 

 centrum of the axis ; in the Cryptodira it remains more or 

 less connected. 



9. " Better than any lengthy discussion, the following 

 figures will show whether Dr. Baur is justified in stating that 

 an * atlas-ring ' is absent in the Pleurodira and that the cen- 

 trum alone supports the neuroids of the atlas." 



At first I have to protest against misstatements. I have 

 never said that the centrum alone supports the neuroids. / 

 have clearly staled that in the Podocnemididce the first inter- 

 centrum is " slightly connected loith the neuroids.'" In regard 

 to the atlas-ring I may say the following : an atlas-ring is 



