( 21 ) 



the shell of which was purchased by the British Museum, and 

 the head and feet of which in spirit also passed into Dr. Gray's 

 hands. And on this head to the best of my belief, Dr. Gray 

 based his Kachuga Peguensis. At page 55 of the Sup., Cat. 

 S. R., 1870, Dr. Gray remarks under this head : — " A skull in 

 the British Museum figured under the name of Kachuga trilineata 

 (P. Z. S., 1869, p. 202, f. 13)," and further on, " there is a second 

 skull in the British Museum received without the rest of the 

 animal from Mr. Theobald figured in the Proceedings, Zoological 

 Society, as Kachuga Peguensis. * * * On re-examination I 

 am inclined to regard the difierences between the skuUs as merely 

 sexual or individ/ual." 



Now there can be no reasonable doubt of the correctness of 

 the above admission of Dr. Gray as to the specific identity of 

 his trilineata (trivittata) and Peguensis, or that the former 

 species was based on the head of a male animal, whilst the latter 

 was based on the head (in spirits) of the unique female specimen 

 before mentioned. Yet when I suggest this, knowing that the 

 skuUs of but two ' Batagars' were in my collection, ' baska' and 

 trivittata, Dr. Gray, Appendix, 1872, p. 18, quietly shifts his 

 ground and says : — " Mr. Theobald thinks that it {Peguensis) is 

 probably an aberrant form of Tetraonyx Lessoni, Or Batagar 

 trivittata (P. Z. S., 1870, p. 676), but the figures I think show 

 distinctly that this is a mistake," and apparently abandons the 

 correct view of the identity of Peguensis and trivittata {trili- 

 neata) which he himself admitted in 1870, so soon as the same 

 idea was put forward by myself! 



Then again under Kachuga trilineate Dr. Gray quotes me to 

 the following efiect: — " The males have three pitchy-black bands 

 on the back of the thorax, and the females which are much 

 larger are all black." Sup., Cat. S. R., p. 55. Now, the sole 

 female I ever saw or described, was the one in Dr. Gray's 

 possession at the time and described by me in the Joui'nal 

 Linnean Society, Vol. X, in these precise words: — "Shell above 

 and below uniform deep umber brmvn, without any inarJcings 

 whatever" a description Dr. Gray had means— full means— of 



