Dr. J. E. Gray on Testudo chilensis. t7 



of Dr. Straucli on the distribution of tortoises, I observed, under 

 Testudo sulcata^ that that species was said to be found in various 

 parts of South America by D'Orbigny, Burmeister, and others, 

 and I had no doubt that they had obtained the tortoise which I 

 had described as Testudo chilensis. I sent a short note stating 

 how I had obtained the information, for insertion in the No- 

 vember Number of the 'Annals ' (see vol. vi. p. 428). At the 

 same time I sent the synonyma, with references to the works 

 in which they were described, to the Secretary of the Society, 

 with a request that it should be added to my paper which was 

 to be read on the 1st of November. And there can be no 

 doubt that it was from the paper sent to the Secretary of the 

 Zoological Society and to the ' Annals ' that Dr. Sclater ob- 

 tained all the information which appears in his paper in the 

 ' Annals ' for December. And thus it was that he found out 

 that the " new Chilian tortoise " had been " known to four or 

 five previous writers," who by-the-by confounded it with a 

 species with which it has no alliance, the one being a typical 

 Old- World tortoise, and the other belonging to a group pecu- 

 liar to the New World, which Agassiz considers a very distinct 

 genus, under the name of Xerohates. 



Upon the day (Nov. 30) that I received the ' Annals ' con- 

 taining Dr. Sclater' s paper, I received from Dr. Sclater the 

 proof of my communication of the 7th of July ; so that if Dr. 

 Sclater was only urged by " the special interest which he 

 takes in the correct determination of the animals kept in the 

 Gardens of the Zoological Society of London," he had the 

 opportunity of correcting the erroneous information according 

 to his idea, which was sent to me by one of his subordinates, 

 in the original paper, either by informing me of the right 

 habitat and history of the tortoises, to insert in the paper, 

 which I would have thankfully acknowledged ; or he could have 

 made the correction in the form of a note from himself, as 

 editor of the ' Proceedings,' communicated under his own 

 name. 



Scientific men ought to be much indebted to Dr. Sclater for 

 the trouble he has taken in writing to Dr. Peters, Dr. Philippi, 

 and others respecting the habitat of this tortoise, a kindof labom- 

 which he seems only to undertake after I or some other person 

 have described the species. Unfortunately my occupations are 

 so multitudinous that I cannot devote so much time to the 

 determination of the habitat of a single species which has so 

 extensive a distribution in South America ; but in this case the 

 trouble seems to have been thrown away ; for instead of having 

 only negative evidence, we have positive facts within reach 

 (and, indeed, the following statement given me by Dr. Giinther, 



Ann.&Mag.N.IIist. Ser. 4. Vol.yii. 2 



