462 Miscellaneous. 



&c., by which every order of Vertebrata is more adequately repre- 

 sented, and especially that of the Reptiles, amongst which is that 

 valuable collection he had formed for the illustration of his work on 

 the ' Testudinata.' His specimens are marked ' Bell collection.' " 



It is of course quite possible that some specimens might have 

 passed into the hands of dealers before Mr. Bell sold the collection ; 

 but these could not have formed an important portion of the whole, 

 as Mr. Bell expressly stated to my father that he was selling to him 

 his entire museum. This fact is impressed upon my memory by the 

 recollection of my father's annoyance and regret at the non-appear- 

 ance of one specimen, a skull of the Sumatran rhinoceros, which 

 was noted in Mr. Bell's MS. catalogue (which I now possess) as 

 part of his collection, and which could never be found. It would be 

 interesting, especially at the present time, to know what has become 

 of this skull. 



We have at present at least thirty-three skeletons and parts of 

 skeletons of C'helonia alone, which belonged to Mr. Bell — a number 

 even larger than that noted in his Catalogue. I think this fact 

 proves conclusively that whatever Mr. Hope may have purchased 

 and given to the Oxford Museum, it could not have been the " Bell 

 Collection of lleptiles " properly so called. I ought to mention that 

 we received no specimens in spirit from Mr. Bell, nor any in a 

 stuffed state. 



There is but one trifling error in Dr. Gray's letter of October 24. 

 He says that he consulted Mr. Bell's specimens " in the Museum of 

 the Cambridge Philosophical Society, where they were before they 

 were transferred to the Anatomical Museum." The collection was 

 never placed, even for a single day, in any other building than the 

 Museum of Anatomy. 



I am, Gentlemen, 



Your obedient servant, 



J. W. Claek (Superintendent). 



To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



November 22, 1872. 



Gentlemen, — My attention having been directed to a correspond- 

 ence in the ' Annals ' between Dr. Gray and Professor Westwood, I 

 find myself called upon to state that Dr. Gray is entirely in error 

 respecting the distribution of my collection of Keptilia, including, in 

 particular, the Testudinata. 



In the year 1856 I sent a few specimens of the latter, with others 

 of my osteological collection, to my late friend Professor Clark, of 

 Cambridge. Amongst them there are now in the museum at Cam- 

 bridge, as I am informed by my friend Professor Newton, the shells of 

 only about half a dozen species of Testudinata, besides a few heads 

 and several osteological specimens. In 1801, five years subsequently 

 to my sending these few specimens to Cambridge, the whole of my large 

 collection of lieptilia was purchased by Mr. Hope, in order to present 



