10 



UTF.NDIN K) 111 i: CATALOGUE OF SHIELD REPTILES. 



"21 Park Orescent, 

 "Jul) 20th, L871. 



•• I' > tht Principal Librarian and Steretary, British Jfua urn. 



•■ Su;, — In the year 1867 we presented to the British 

 um a large collection of zoological specimens, fossil and 

 nt. which were in the house of the late Dr. Hugh Fal- 

 coner ;it the time of his death. The colleotion necessarily 

 included a good many specimens which had been borrowed 

 by Dr. Falconer from public museums and private friends, 

 ;inil in transferring the colleotion to the British Museum it 

 in the distinct understanding thai any specimens after- 

 wards claimed by parties who had lent them to Dr. Falconer 

 should be given up. Mr. Wateiiiouse, who was good enough 

 to superintend, on the part of the British Museum, the 

 removal "t' the Bpeoimens from Park Crescent, was well 

 aware of this condition; and many fossil specimens have, 

 in accordance with it. been since restored to their proper 

 own. 



•• Wo have now to request that the skull of an existing 

 i among the specimens referred to), which 

 has ribed by Dr. Gray under the title of Scapia 



Falconeri, be given up to us, in order that wo may restore 

 it to the collection to which we are satisfied that it right- 

 fully belongs. 



■• We are your obedient Servants, 

 t Signed) " Chas. Falconer, 



•' C. MuRcnisoN, M.D., 

 "Executors of the late Dr. Hugh Falconer." 



" British Museum, 

 "July 27th, 1871. 



■■ hi lb Mr. Joxes, — With regard to the request of the 

 Executors of Dr. Falconer, I was not previously aware that 

 the specimens were given under any reservation. As the 

 executors state that they are satisfied that the skull of 

 Scapia Falconeri received from them rightfully belongs to 

 another collection, to which they wish to restore it, I can see 

 no objection to its being returned to them. 

 " Believe me, 

 " Yours truly, 

 (Signed) " J. E. Gray." 



" British Museum, 

 "Nov. 20th, 1871. 



■ Dear Dr. Grat, — Will you be so good as to deliver to 

 the bearer of this letter the skull of Scapia Falconeri, re- 

 ting which you wrote to me on the 27th of July last, 

 and which the Trustees have determined to return .-fo the 

 Executors of the late Dr. Hugh Falconer as requested, 

 having received an assurance from those gentlemen that it 



was never the property of Dr. Falconer, he having only 

 borrowed it. 



■■ Believe me, 



■• Fours truly, 

 (Signed) "J. Wintkk Jones." 



■• Dr. Gray, F.R.S. Ac" 



"Nov. 21st, 1871. 

 ■• Received, from the Trustees of the British Museum, for 

 the Executors of the late Dr. Hugh Falconer, the skull of 

 the Scapia Fulcom ri, 



(Signed) " William Oldham." 



Registered mark 

 68. 2. 12. 18. 



Cistudo Carolina (p. 19), add: — 

 Gray, Tortoises Sfc. tab. 22 (from life). 



Notochelys platynota (p. 21), add: — 



Mr. Theobald in his Catologue confounds this species with 

 Geocmyda grandis (p. 10). 



Cuora amboinensis (p. 21), add: — 



Gray, Tortoises 4'c. tab. 23 (from life). 

 Emys gastrota;nia, Bleeker (young). 

 E. borneoensis, MiiXler, Verh. 

 Clemmys borneoensis, Strauch, Stud. p. 33. 



The specimens vary in the size of the head, which does 

 not appear to be sexual, as there are males and females with 

 narrow heads, and a single male from the same locality 

 with a much wider head than the rest. One specimen is 

 deformed by having the dorsal shield very convex. 



Dr. Meyer has sent home a very young specimen of Cuora 

 amboinensis which has three very distinct keels on the back 

 of the shell ; our series of this species in the British Mu- 

 seum show that the young is always three-keeled, and that 

 the lateral shields gradually disappear as the animal reaches 

 the adult age. 



Cyclemys dhor (p. 23), add: — 

 Gray, Tortoises &[c. tab. 24 & 25 (from life). 



Geoemyda spinosa (p. 25), add : — 



Gray, Tortoises §c. tab. 26 & 27 (from life, young 

 and old). 

 Clemmys spinosa, Strauch, Chelon. Stud. p. 32. 

 Ernys spinosa, S. Mutter, Verhand. (from Borneo). 



The reference to Dumeril's species is doubtful. See 

 observations under Manouria fusca. 



