1865.] Scientific Intelligence. 49 



you have received Gainther's work on Indian reptiles, which will 

 materially assist the study of them. I do not, however, agree with 

 him in all cases ; for instance, his identification of the Bengal Emys 

 ocellata with the Tenasserim E. Berdmorei. — He has certainly not 

 seen specimens of the former, and I wish that some could he sent to 

 him. The species is not very commonly brought to the Calcutta 

 bazar, but by offering a slight reward to one of the museum servants 

 a few might be obtained, and there is a good series of both races in 

 the Society's museum. I have written pretty regularly to Jerdon, 

 communicating to him what I learn ; but he has not largely availed 

 himself of my notes in his Appendix, and I seldom hear from him. 

 He never was a good correspondent. I certainly told him in good 

 time for publication that the common Indian Curlew is not Numenius 

 mrquata, but N. major, Schlegel, figured in the Fauna Japonica ; and 

 I sent British specimens of the former to the museum. He is quite 

 wrong, too, in placing the Burmese Peafowl in Asam ! The Indian 

 species occurring so far round as Chittagong. The Gattus Tern- 

 minckii, Gray (p. 541,) which he mentions as a peculiar species, is a 

 most obvious hybrid between bankivus and furcatus, though differently 

 coloured from the so-called G. ceneus. In p. 481, he is quite wrong 

 in identifying Turtur cliinensis with T. tigrinus : the former is much 

 larger, with quite plain plumage on the back, and is correctly figured 

 by Sonnerat. Both are in the Society's museum. I cannot make out 

 the middle-sized Indian Cormorant erroneously referred to sinensis in 

 p. 862. P. 870, 1. 3. For u poliogenys" read pyrrhogenys. P. 597. 

 T. ocellatus, the Philippine species (luzoniensis, Gin.,) is quite distinct 

 from the Indian T. pugnae, to which Jerdon's other synonyms 

 belong. Arboricola rufogularis, (p. 598) was sent by Tickell from 

 Tenasserim, as noticed in one of my Reports. Another time I will 

 annotate Jerdon's work for you in detail. About the Darjeeling Kalij 

 Pheasant (melanotus), these breed at the G-ardens, and are distributed, 

 but not any have died, to be promoted to the British Museum. A good 

 pair of skins would accordingly be acceptable. Bruce has sent from 

 China a noble pair of skins of Crossoptilon Uougolicum, Swinhoe, 

 (auritum, Pallas, apud Sclater,) and ditto of a new species of 

 Pucrasia, P. xanthospila, E. It. Gray, from the mountains N. W. of 

 Pekin. The sexes of the former only differ in the male being larger 

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