104 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL, MUSEUM vol.66 



Cyclemys trifasciata Boulenger, Cat. Chel. Brit. Mus., 1889, p. 133 (South 

 China).— Werneb, Abh. Bayer. Akad. Wiss., II Kl., vol. 22, pt. 2, 1903, 

 p. 359 (Shanghai. — Siebenrock, Sitz. Ber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math.- 

 Nat. Kl., vol. 116, sect. 1, 1907, p. 1763 (Kwangtung or Kwangsi) ; Zool. 

 Jahrb. Siippl., vol. 10, pt. 3, 1909, p. 502 (Kwantung and Kwaugsi ; Batu 

 Island).— Bruner, Bltitt. Aquar. Terr. Kaude, vol. 19, 1908 (p. 746, 

 fig. 6). 



Emys trifasciata Strauch, Mem, Acad. Sci. St. Petersbourg, ser. 7, vol. 38, 

 no. 2, 1890, p. 65 (Canton). 



Cyclemmys trifasciata Vogt, Sitz. Bcr. Ges. Naturf. Preunde, Berlin, 1914, 

 p. 96 (Canton). 



Only one specimen (No, 36413) of this species has come to the 

 National Museum. It was collected by P. L. Jony, 1881, in " China." 



It is highly desirable to obtain more material of this interesting 

 species with definite localities so that its precise geographical distri- 

 bution may be ascertained. The locality Shanghai based on Fitz- 

 inger's statement that the Novara Expedition brought it from there 

 is not beyond suspicion, as Steindachner does not mention this species 

 in his detailed account of the reptiles of that expedition. 



Family TRIONYCHIDAE 



AMYDA SINENSIS (Wiegmann) 



Amyda sinensis (Wiegmann) Herp. Japan, 1907, p. 524. 



The student of the Chinese (and Japanese) soft-shell turtles is 

 confronted by an miusually complicated problem, which because of 

 its peculiar circumstances may perhaps remain unsolved. In the 

 rivers from Hongkong north to the Amur, and also in Formosa 

 and Japan proper, there occurs one or more forms of the Genus 

 A7)iyda, which by some writers have been treated as a single species 

 while others have regarded them as a '' formenkreiss " consisting of 

 possibly as many as 5 differentiated subspecies to be treated nomen- 

 clatorially as binominals Or trinominals according to the individual 

 views. The difficulties are chiefly due to (1) lack of material; (2) 

 great variability o^ these animals; (3) breaking down of the natural 

 barriers. 



Lack of material. — One can hardly expect to do justice to the 

 problem without a complete series from each of the main drainage 

 areas of China and the islands, to consist of well preserved suites 

 showing both the different stages of growth, the sexual and the 

 individual variation within the hatching stage, the adolescent stage 

 and the fully adult. Needless to say, such material exists as yet 

 nowhere. Few museums indeed can boast specimens from more than 

 a few localities, and those mostly of indifferent preservation and 

 uncomparable because of different age or sex. 



