Vol. VII] VAN DENBURGH—ASPIDONECTES CALIFORNIANA RIVERS 35 



found in a vat of fresh water several live specimens of what 

 seemed to me at the time to be identical with the species de- 

 scribed by Prof. Rivers. On returning to Berkeley, I reported 

 to Mr. R. what I had seen in the city, at this Chinese grocery, 

 and he rather doubted it at the time as being the same species 

 he had described from the Sacramento River. Prof. R. deter- 

 mined to secure these specimens from the city for the Museum 

 of the University; which he did, and we had them alive in the 

 sink for a number of days (in fresh water) in the museum 

 rooms. On opening the rooms in the morning we usually 

 found them on the floor, having crawled out of the sink. My 

 recollection as to the number of them is not quite clear, but I 

 remember we had at least three, one of which was considerably 

 larger than the others. I asked the merchant where they came 

 from. He said China. Any questions you would like to ask I 

 will gladly answer. I will try to see you at an early date. 



Yours truly, 



(Signed) "W.G.Harford." 



While these statements made from memory by the people 

 concerned many years after the events to which they refer may 

 not be in all respects accurate, they seem to make it almost cer- 

 tain that all of these turtles were brought over from China. 

 There seems to be no evidence in support of Rivers' statement 

 that the type was caught in the Sacramento River itself, al- 

 though it may have been found in the backwater known as 

 China Slough, near the Chinatown of Sacramento. It, doubt- 

 less, had been imported by the Chinese, just as had the other 

 specimens found later in San Francisco. There is absolutely 

 no evidence of the occurrence of a soft-shelled turtle in any of 

 the waters of California. 



