18 Dr. J. E. Gray on Ateles Bartlettii. 



which was communicated to Dr. Schxter at the meeting of the 

 Zoological Society when the paper was read, and before Dr. 

 Sclater's paper in the ^ Annals ' was put in type) proves that the 

 tortoises were obtained near Santiago on the coast of Chili. 



Dr. Giinther states : — " Hr. Weisshaupt, who brought a col- 

 lection of Chilian animals, stated that he was in the habit of 

 collecting personally live specimens on or near the sea-shore, 

 about twenty miles south of his place of residence, and that 

 he obtained the tortoises brought by him on one of these ex- 

 cursions. He was asked by me to obtain more specimens, 

 live or dead, together with lizards and frogs, which he may 

 meet with at the same time. I mentioned this already at the 

 meeting of the Zoological Society on November 1st." 



These remarks apply equally well to the observations on 

 Ateles Bartlettii. I have only to observe that I considered 

 Ateles variegatus of Natterer, figured in Reichenbach's Atlas, 

 tigs. 15 &, 16, to be the same i^'A Ateles melanochir of Desmarest. 

 But it is very difficult to make out the species of this genus 

 from short descrip)tions, and I must leave the question to be 

 settled by future zoologists ; but I consider that I have done 

 good service in figuring so fine a species — only remarking that 

 it is the Secretary of the Society, and not I, that is responsible 

 for the colou.ring of the plates, as they were not even submitted 

 to my inspection before publication ; but in this case it is very 

 like the specimen : and Herr v. Pelzeln's observation shows 

 that the A. variegatus of Natterer is a very variable species ; 

 for he says that in some specimens the yellow is continued over 

 the upper surface of the limbs, of which there is not the 

 slightest indication in the male which I described ; and I 

 could not procure from the Society any habitat for the female, 

 which I am now informed came from the Hon. A. Gordon, 

 Avho obtained it from the upper part of the Caura river, a 

 southern confluent of the Orinoco. 



In this case I am charged with two faults. 



First. I have named as a new species a monkey which Dr. 

 Sclater thinks was named and very briefly described thirty 

 years ago, in a miserable compilation ; but I do not think that 

 he has proved his case : and surely he should not complain of 

 a person giving a new name to a species already described ; 

 for in the very paper in which he makes the charge he has 

 given a new name to a tortoise which I had described and 

 named T. chilensis^ because he has a theory, founded on nega- 

 tive evidence, that, though the specimen came from Santiago, 

 it is not a native of Chili, and therefore he proposes to call it 

 T. argentinaj in case his theory should prove correct ; and I 

 think I have shown that there is no likelihood of the new name 



