THE ZOOLOGY OF BRITISH INDIA. 311 



devote a few paragraphs to the most important features of each of 

 these groups as treated of in Dr. Giinther's work. 



The order of Tortoises, which stands at the head of the class of 

 Eeptiles, is well represented in India as in most other tropical 

 countries ; nearly fifty species being included in Dr. Giinther's 

 work. Of the true Land-tortoises, however, of the genus Testudo, 

 only a single species, the T. elegans, is found in the peninsula of 

 India. Of two others, mentioned in Dr. Giinther's work, one is 

 from Afghanistan, and the other from the Malayan provinces. The 

 fresh-water Tortoises, forming the family Emydidse, are on the other 

 hand, very numerous in South-eastern Asia, and are referable to 

 different well-characterized genera, through some of which a gradual 

 transition is formed from the Land-tortoises proper, to those the 

 habits of which are thoroughly aquatic. The typical genus Emys, 

 so rich in species in all temperate and tropical regions except Aus- 

 tralia, has eleven well-marked representatives within the area over 

 which Dr. Giinther's researches have extended. Dr. Giinther states 

 that the Indian species are in no case used as food by man, a some- 

 what curious fact when we recollect that several of the American 

 terrapens belonging to the same genus are highly appreciated by 

 Transatlantic gastronomes. Some species of the Trionychidse or 

 Tresh-water Turtles, as Dr. Giinther calls them, on the other hand 

 although purely carnivorous in their habits, appear to be better 

 appreciated in India as articles of diet. The Chitra Indica, as we 

 are informed, as well as the species of true Trionyx are often eaten 

 by the natives, particularly the Chinese. Of the tr,ue marine Turtles, 

 four species occur with more or less fi'equency on the coast of India. 

 The herbivorous Chelonia virgata, the Indian representative of the 

 well-known Ch. midas of the Atlantic, is very abundant in the Straits 

 of Malacca, and equals the Atlantic species in size while it rivals it in 

 flavour. The Hawksbill Turtle, Caretta squamata, was formerly also 

 very abundant on the same coasts, but in consequence of the great 

 demand for Tortoise-shell, has of late years become very scarce at 

 places where it was once very common. This has been particularly 

 the case on the coasts of Ceylon, so that the Ceylonese Government 

 which is now going to some expense to re-establish the pearl- 

 fisheries in these seas, would perhaps do well to extend their care 

 over the Tiu'tles as well. 



Dr. Giinther commences the second order of reptiles as we have 

 already stated, with the Crocodiles, of which he enumerates five 



