.'>22 Dr. J, E. Gray on Sca])ia Phayrei. 



tJons themselves, whicli remain nearly the same, except in 

 removing Scapia to the second section. 



Section I. lite tivo central hinder marf/hial plates united into 

 a broad caudal plate. Sternal shields 12, arranged in pairs 

 on each side. Pectoral 'plates large^ like the others. Con- 

 taining Testudinina, Homopina, and Kinixyina, as given 

 on the third page of the Suppl. Cat. Shield Kept. 

 Section II. The tivo central hinder marginal plates separate, 



as in the generality of freshwater tortoises and turtles. 



Manourina. 

 Sc'APiA. Sternal plates 12, regularly aiTanged in pairs on 



each side of the central line. Scapia Phayrei. 

 Manouria. Sternal shields 10, aiTanged in five pairs. 



The two pectoral plates small, short, triangular on the 



hinder side of the axilla. Manouria emys. 



The history and account of the state of the specimens in 

 the Calcutta Museum is so very contradictoiy, that I should 

 not be astonished at hearing that the missing head had been 

 discovered there. 



Mr.Blyth(Journ.Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 1853, vol. xxii. p. 639), 

 in describing Testudo Phayrei, notices two specimens, one 

 large and another rather smaller and having the appearance 

 of great age ; and in his pam])hlet he adds : — " Its test (cara- 

 pace) was much deformed, which is the reason I could not de- 

 scribe the species so minutely as I otherwise should have 

 done ; and as the general deformity might well have extended 

 to the skull in some degree, this may account for the skull in 

 the British ]\luseum deviating slightly from the nonnal t-s-])e." 



Mr. Theobald, in the ' Catalogue of the Reptiles of the 

 Museum of the Asiatic Society '* (which I have only just re- 

 ceived, as I ordered it believing it to be a separate publication, 

 and I now find it is only an extra number of the ' Journal of 

 the Asiatic Society '), at page 9 makes the following entry : — 

 " Manouria, Gray, M. emys, Gray : an adult, much injured ; 

 Moulmain (]\Iajor Pliayre). Formerly a stuffed specimen, and 

 now only a few fragments remain of this rare species." At 



* If I had seen Mr. Theobald's Catalog-iie before, I never should liave 

 written any observations on his paper about the skiUl of Scapia Falcoueri, 

 and I should have bi^Mi quite satisfied that Dr. Falconer's nieniorv and 

 my own reputation should have sliared with Hell, .Terdon, Giintlicr, Rl^^th. 

 and other zoologists the ill-tempered personalities with which Mr. Theo- 

 bald's catalogue and other papei-s abound. I have lately received a very 

 abusive letter from IMr. Tlu'obald, but am glad to see that he lias some 

 discretion ; for he has blotted mit (before lie sent it to me) two lines which 

 he Iiad written — if this was not done by his legal adxiser. llirough whom 

 I received it. 



