106 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. Ci> 



acquired in 1883 at Hongkong by P. L. Jouy. It is in an indifferent 

 state of preservation, and may have been purchased in the market. 

 I am therefore unable to decide whether A. sinensis, from the West 

 Elver drainage and A. irrorata from the Yangtsekiang drainage are 

 identical or not. 



Comparing the remainder of our Chinese mainland soft-shell 

 turtles with the Japanese material at my command, as listed in 

 the Herpetology of Japan, two conclusions force themselves upon me, 

 namely, first, that the confidence I had in the table of measurements 

 (p. 51G) was to a great extent misplaced, owing partly to the scanti- 

 ness of the material and partly to the selection of the length of the 

 dermal carapace as the unit (100) for comparison. On the other 

 hand, the additional material bears out the fact alluded to on page 

 517, that the plastron is shorter in the Japanese form. Reducing 

 the length of the plastron to per cent of the width of the membranous 

 shell, the Japanese specimens vary from 85 to 91:, averaging about 

 90 per cent, while the continental and Formosan specimens vary 

 from 92 to 101, averaging 97 per cent. 



The overlapping is caused by two specimens (Nos. 39313-4) col- 

 lected by Mr. Sowerby in the Hwangho near Honanfu, Honan, in 

 which the plastron is as short as the longest of the Japanese, namely, 

 92 and 94 to 100 of body width. In other respects they also agree 

 with Japanese specimens, but as they still fall within the range of 

 the size of the plastron of the other continental specimens I prefer 

 to name them A. sinensis. 



Two other specimens (Nos. 39333-4) also male and female, were 

 collected by Sowerby further north in the same river drainage, 

 namely, respectively, 30 miles south and 12 miles east of Yenanfu, 

 Shensi. They are considerably older than the Honan specimens and 

 for that reason are not strictly comparable with them. They diifer 

 in several respects, notably in having a much greater interorbital 

 width, but without corresponding specimens of the forms both to 

 the north and to the south I hesitate to pronounce them different. 

 The question of their relationship to A. schlegeJH which according 

 to Nikoloki is the form collected by Przhevalski in the Mongolian 

 reaches of the Hwangho, is particularly interesting, but no solution 

 of this vexed problem seems possible at the present time. 



From Shanghai we have now one specimen (No. 46515) sent by 

 D. C. Jansen, and two (Nos. G5415-6) by Mr. Sowerby, who also 

 sent two females (Nos. 66455-6) from Hangchow, Chekiang. From 

 Professor Ping a specimen (No. 66854) was recently received from 

 Nanking. The above are all probably 3 to 4 years old, except the 

 ones from Honan which are older. 



A hatchling (No. 65428) collected by Sowerby at Foochow, Fukien. 

 upon comparison with specimens from Japan of exactly same age 



