AITI MUX TO THE CATALOCl I', OF sllllll.l) HK1T1LKS. 



known. Mr. Blyth seemed to believe that the peculiarity 

 ■ ■I the form of the Bkull was produoed by a deformity 

 of the specimen from which he believed it was obtained; 

 but this is evidently the character of the group to which 

 it beli 



Scapia gigantea. 



Testudo gigantea, Schweigger, Prodr. i. pp. 327 & <IG'2. 



Dum.ei Bibr. Erp. Gin. ii. p. L20? 

 T. indioa, var. v, Gray, Syn. Rept. p. 9. 

 1 . Daudinii, Dum. et Bibr. Erp. Gin. ii. p. 125? 

 T. Phayrei, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xvii. p. 50. xxiii. 

 shortly described), xl. p. 77. 

 Theobald, P. /.. S. L870, p. 675. 



. /'. /.. S. 1871, p. 517. 

 Anderson, P. /.. S. L871, p. -126 (diagram of sternum 

 and back). 

 T. indioa, Theobald, Cat. Rept. Mus. As. Soc. Beng. p. S. 

 U '."una emys, Theobald, Journ. Linn. Soc. x. p. 10, and 



. Rept. Mus. As. Soc. Beng. p. 9. 

 "Manouria, emyB," Theobald, Cat. lujit. Mus. As. Soc. Beng. 



p. 9. 

 Testudo (Soapia) Falconeri, Gray, P.Z.S. 1S69, p. 109. 

 Theobald, P.Z.S. L870, p. 074. 



; . i Falconeri, Gray, Cat. Sh. Rept. Suppl. p. 6, f. 1 

 (skull). 



Hab. Airacan (Blyth) ; Burmah (Theobald). 



Hinder part of crown of head covered with small shields. 

 Pectoral shield short, much shorter on the inner side. 



Consult for discussion about this species, the ' Athenaeum' 

 i >r November and December 1S70. 



•• Mr. Theobald observes ' that in default, therefore, of 

 more exact information, the evidence before him pointed to 

 the conclusion that the skull whereon T. Falconeri, Gray, 

 had been based was no other than the identical skull of 

 T. Phayrei, Myth, missing from the Calcutta Museum.' 

 The only apparent evidence is, that there is a specimen 

 ot' T. Phayrei without a skull in that museum. There does 

 not appear in the paper to be any attempt at comparing the 

 figure of the skull with the head of the other, perfect spe- 

 cimen of this species in the museum, which, one would 

 have supposed, a zoologist would have done before he made 

 such a suggestion. I should be very glad to hear that such 

 a comparison had been made, either with the head of the 

 perfect specimen, or, what would be better, with fresh skulls 

 of this Tortoise, which does not appear to be rare in ' Bur- 

 mah,' or rather I believe, in Arracan ; then I should be very 

 glad to adopt it, as it would erase a very imperfectly de- 

 scribed nominal species from the list. 



" The interesting part of his notes is where Mr. Theobald 

 says that Testudo Phayrei is a true Testudo, with a regular 



sternum and separate caudal shield; therefore Mr. Iilyth 

 was iu error when he informed me and Dr. Giinther that 

 Manouria emys was the same as his T. Phayrei, an idea 

 adopted by Mr. Theobald in his 'Catalogue of tho Reptiles 

 of Pegu,' and ill his 'Catalogue of the Reptiles in the Mu- 

 seum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' where, after having 

 scon the specimens, he placed it as Manouria emys. 



" It is to be observed that if the head should prove to be 

 the same as the one on which my genus Scapia is founded, 

 it will go to moro firmly establish the propiioty of having 

 formed tho genus Scapia, as Test win I'liayrei has, according 

 to Mr. Theobald, tho hitherto unobserved combination of 

 normal sternal shields, like T<stud<i, and separate caudal 

 shields, like Manouria and the Freshwater Tortoises, so that 

 it forms a section or genus by itself. 



" Mr. Theobald believes that the skull on which Scapia 

 Falconeri was established belonged to this species. He may 

 possibly be right ; for it is a head of a large Land-Tortoise, 

 of which we do not know the bod} - , and which may perhaps 

 come from India, or rather Hindostan ; and Testudo Phayrei 

 is a large Land-Tortoise, the head or skull of which has not 

 been described, although we now learn that the typical spe- 

 cimen has the head on it, and the general form and external 

 characters of the skull are usually to be seen through the 

 skin. I should probably have made this suggestion myself 

 when I established the genus from the skull, and mentioned 

 the characters by which it was known from the skulls of 

 all the large Land-Tortoises then known ; but the necessity 

 of referring to the undescribed head of T. Phayrei did not 

 occur to me, as at that period I believed, on the authority 

 of Mr. Blyth and Mr. Theobald, who had the specimens at 

 their command, that it was the same as Manouria, with 

 which I did compare it. 



" Mr. Theobald must excuse my not adopting his sugges- 

 tion till an accurate comparison has been made between the 

 skull of T. Phayrei and Scapia, more especially as Mr. 

 Theobald has already, with ' culpable haste,' referred the 

 two typical specimens of T. Phayrei to two species, indeed 

 I may say genera, to which he now says the}* do not belong. 

 It is to be hoped some competent zoologist will make the 

 comparison which Mr. Theobald and his friends seem disin- 

 clined to do. Mr. Theobald further suggests that the skull 

 which I described may have formerly belonged to a thorax 

 in the Indian Museum. I must say I see no evidence of the 

 fact worthy of a moment's notice, and it is a curious idea 

 when they have not proved the identity of the two species ; 

 and the account of the state of the specimen and the mani- 

 pulation it had undergone is so contradictory as to be utterly 

 unworthy of credit. I must leave the question to the 



