HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 



505 



Variation. — As in many other turtles with deeply carved shields 

 there is great variation in the intensity of the sculpturing. Thus Xo. 

 34076, also a female but a few millimeters longer than the one described 

 above, is entirely smooth underneath and nearly so al)ove. Otherwise 

 there is but little noteworthy variation in the four specimens before me. 

 In the largest one just mentioned, the femoral seam is slightly longer 

 than the humeral, and the posterior half of the anal seam has become 

 obliterated ; in the two younger specimens the pectoral seam is rela- 

 tively somewhat shorter than in the two adults inasmuch as it does 

 not equal the length of the humeral and gular seams together. All 

 four are practically alike in color. 



Hahitat. — This species has been recorded from southern China as 

 well as from Formosa, though some doubt has been expressed as to 

 the correctness of the Chinese habitat. 



Swinhoe found it to be frequent in the Tamsui River, northern For- 

 mosa, where according to him it is the ]irevailing species." 



Four specimens recently acquired by the U. S. National Museum 

 from Mr. A. Owston show that this species also occurs in Ishigaki 

 shima of the Yaeyama subgroup of the Riu Kin archipelago. 



The C. amhoinensis of Okada and Doctor Fritze, said to occur in the 

 Yaeyama group, is undoubtedly meant for the present species. 

 Doctor Fritze states that from the latter islands it is occasionally 

 brought to Okinawa shima. 



List of specimens of Cyclemys JJavornarginata. 



a De.^cription, p. 503. 



o " Swinhoe has frequently seen the Tamsui tortoise showing its head and the top 

 of its back on the surface of the water in ponds about the rice-fields, and has watched 

 them basking, several at a time, on the top of large stones in such ponds." (^Gray, 

 Suppl. Cat. Shield Rept. Brit. Mus., p. 20). 



