1170 Reply to the Minute of C apt. Munro. [Nov. 



Of ray execution of this labour, Capt. M. remarks — "All that seems to 

 have been done consists in guessing at the names of a number of animals, 

 intended to be represented, in a series of bad drawings, with scarcely any 

 original information regarding these animals. The little that has been done 

 has been but slovenly executed," &c. Really I cannot imagine what else 

 could have been done, or expected, under the circumstances ; having, in the 

 great majority of cases, no further data than the said " bad drawings" to 

 build an opinion upon, — to " guess" at as I best might. Neither do I see 

 much advantage in amplifying the notices of common and well known species, 

 merely for the sake of filling out the page ; nor even in imparting valuable 

 information about rare species in a work which, as I had every reason to 

 infer, was destined to be all but suppressed. Unhappily, the MS. notes of 

 Dr. Lord, which would have afforded some assistance, had unaccountably 

 disappeared from the Society's Rooms :* and the specimens collected by the 

 party were few and mostly valueless. 



The most useful to me amongst the latter were some of the fishes pro- 

 cured ; and without these it would have been impossible to determine certain 

 of the species with anything like precision. Whoever reads Capt. Munro's brief 

 paragraph on this class will assuredly do me the injustice to infer that I am 

 indebted to my friend Mr. McClelland " for the short notes attached to this 

 portion of the drawings" (the Afghan fishes ? or the fishes generally ? vide 

 minute) : the fact, however, being that my attempts to ascertain the numerous 

 species figured, from very insufficient data in most instances, cost me much 

 tedious labour j and but a small residue of them remained for determination 

 when I consulted Mr. McClelland on the subject. That gentleman very 

 obligingly rendered me all the assistance in his power, and I trust that I have 

 sufficiently acknowledged the aid which I derived from him ; and moreover 

 that I am not exactly to blame for obtaining assistance from every available 

 quarter. 



So with the reptiles. Very truly — " The names of the snakes have been 

 guessed at in a most haphazard way." For the simple reason that there was 

 no alternative in the matter. Not having a single book treating on the 

 Ophidia in the Society's library, except Russell's * Indian Serpents,' the 



* Although nominally under my charge, they were virtually in the same keeping as 

 the other books in the Society's library ; and thither I returned them as often as I hud 

 had recourse to them, and on no occasion took them out of the premises. I could have 

 had no reason for ever doing so, as my custom has always been to work solely at the 

 Museum : but why so unpretending a small volume of MS. should have been abstracted 

 from the place, in preference to others of bazar value, I own to some difficulty of 

 understanding. 



