1871] DR. J. E. GRAY ON TORTOISES. 515 



Secondly, except nine specimens of Tortoises which Mr. Theobald 

 gave to the museum, the museum purchased the collection which 

 Mr. Theobald formed, from a dealer, to whom he had sold it, as a 

 collection of Pegu reptiles. 



None of the Tortoises had any special habitat of any kind attached 

 to it ; and the heads were not marked as coming from any par- 

 ticular species ; so that if I made any mistakes in the habitats, or in 

 saying the " thorax was unknown" of a head, it arose from the negli- 

 gence of the collector, which is more unaccountable as we have 

 since learnt that the collection consisted not only of the specimens 

 Mr. Theobald collected in Pegu, but also of specimens that came 

 from elsewhere, and which he obtained in exchange for other spe- 

 cimens from the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Mr. Theobald is not 

 quite correct when he says I give " India " as the locality of 

 Scapia falconeri. I gave India with a ?, and I gave the reason why 

 I thought it might come from that country, and at the same time 

 expressed my doubts. 



It is just the same with some of the other observations on the 

 habitats. 



Thirdly, Mr. Theobald says he has no confidence whatever in the 

 distinctness of species based on skulls only. My experience, which 

 has been very considerable, has led to a very different conclusion ; 

 and Mr. Theobald did not seem to be aware of their importance in 

 the distinguishing of the species of Trionyx and Batagur when he 

 published his paper on the reptiles of Pegu, in the ' Journal of the 

 Linnean Society,' vol. x. p. 16, or in the ' Catalogue of the Reptiles 

 of Pegu,' else he certainly would have given more distinct characters 

 to his species. 



1. Testudo indica. 



Mr. Theobald objects to this specific name. There is a very 

 large number he can choose from ; for, unfortunately, this species 

 has been described under a number of names ; but I prefer not to 

 change one which is so well known, and which was the first given 

 to it. 



2. Testudo (Scapia) falconeri. 



Mr. Theobald observes " that in default, therefore, of more exact 

 information, the evidence before him pointed to the conclusion 

 that the skull whereon T. falconeri, Gray, had been based was no 

 other than the identical skull of T. phayrei, Blyth, missing from 

 the Calcutta Museum." The only evidence there appears to be is, 

 that there is a specimen of T. phayrei without a skull in that mu- 

 seum. There does not appear in the paper to be any attempt at 

 comparing the figure of the skull with the head of the other, perfect 

 specimen of this species in the museum, which, one would have sup- 

 posed, a zoologist would have done before he made such a sugges- 

 tion. 1 should be very glad to hear that such a comparison had 

 been made, either with the head of the perfect specimen, or, what 

 would be better, with fresh skulls of this Tortoise, which does not 



