34 



and on each side of the mandible ; these spots become indistinct 

 in old specimens. 



Length of shell 7 inches. 



Htib. Tenasserim, Siam, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra. 



Genus DAMONIA, 

 Gray, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 193. 



Neural plates hexagonal, anterior lateral margins shortest. Plas- 

 tron extensively united to the carapace by suture, with long axillary 

 and inguinal peduncles ; the latter auchylosed between the fifth and 

 sixth, exceptionally fourth and fifth, costal plates ; entoplastron 

 intersected by the humero-pectoral suture. Skull with a bony 

 temporal arch ; alveolar surfaces very broad, without median 

 ridge ; choanae behind the level of the eyes. Skin of posterior 

 part of head divided into small shields. Digits webbed. Tail 

 short or moderate. 



Distribution. East Indies, China, Japan. Semiaquatic. 



A single species is found in India. 



31. Damonia hamiltonii. 



Emys hamiltonii, Gray, Syn. Rept. pp. 21, 72 ; Giinth. Rept. S. I. 



p. 32. 



Emys guttata (non Schn.), Gray, III. Ind. Zool. i, pi. Ixxvi, fig. 1. 

 Damonia hamiltonii, Gray, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 195 ; Theob. Cat. p. 11 ; 



Soulenff. Cat. Cliel. $c. p. 93. 

 Melanochelys pictus, Murray, A. M. N. II. (5) xiv, 1884, p. 107. 



Carapace much elevated, with three, interrupted keels or series 

 of nodose prominences corresponding to the vertebral and costal 

 shields ; posterior border strongly serrated in the young, feebly in 

 the adult ; nuchal moderate, broader posteriorly than anteriorly ; 

 first vertebral not or scarcely broader anteriorly than posteriorly ; 

 second and third vertebrals broader than long in the young, 

 nearly as long as broad in the adult, narrower than the costals. 

 Plastron large, angulate laterally, truncate anteriorly ; posterior 

 lobe much narrower than the opening of the shell, nearly as 

 long as the width of the bridge, deeply notched posteriorly. 

 Head rather large ; snout very short, not projecting ; upper jaw 

 emarginate mesially ; the width of the mandible at the syinphysis 

 nearly equals the horizontal diameter of the orbit ; a large shield, 

 sometimes divided into three, covers the upper surface of the snout 

 and the crown ; one shield round the upper jaw and one on each 

 side between the eye and the ear. Digits webbed to the claws. 

 Tail extremely short. Shell dark brown or blackish, elegantly 

 marked with yellow spots and radiating streaks. Soft parts dark 

 brown or blackish, with round yellow spots, largest on the head 

 and neck. 



Length of shell 9 inches. 



Hob. Bengal, Punjab, Upper Sind. 



