68 Records of the Indian Musettm. [Vol. IX, 



lateral surfaces : of adult much duller with small 3^ellowish spots 

 on the posterior part. Iris white. 



Geographical distrihution. — Common in the east-central parts 

 of the Madras Presidency and found at an altitude of at least 3000 ft. 

 on the Mysore Plateau. Also recorded ( ? correctly) from Chota 

 Nagpur^ from Poona and from the Jhelum canal in the Punjab. 

 The exact limits of the range are unknown. Recently introduced 

 into Calcutta, but not indigenous to the Gangetic delta. 



Habits. — The Madras Pond-tortoise is mainly aquatic and vege- 

 tarian in habits. Individuals released in a pond in Calcutta left 

 the water at night and made their way upstairs in a house near 

 the edge. 



2. Race thermalis (Lesson). 



Emys thermalis, Lesson, Cent. Zool., p. 86, pi. xxix (1830); Bou- 

 lenger {Nicoria trijuga var. thermalis), Cat., p. 122 and Fauna, 

 p. 27; Siebenrock {Geoemyda trijuga thermalis), Synops., 

 p. 496; Robinson {Nicoria trijuga), Quart. Journ. Micro. Sci., 

 LV, p. 742 (1910). 



Shell a little broader and distinctly flatter, in old individuals 

 of both sexes, than in the forma typica, also larger (up to 26 cm, 

 long) and as a rule darker. 



Head black with conspicuous orange or orange-red spots and 

 streaks scattered assymetrically on the dorsal, lateral and ventral 

 surfaces : spots and streaks less conspicuous in the adult than in 

 the young but never absent. Iris ( ? always) chocolate. 



Geographical distrihution. — Ceylon (plains and hill-country up 

 to at least 1600 ft.) and the district of Ramnad on the Indian 

 shore of the Gulf of Manaar ; also (probably introduced) in the 

 Maldives and the Chagos Archipelago. 



Habits. — The tortoises of this race exhibit remarkable indivi- 

 dual variation in habits. In Ceylon they are abundant in ponds, 

 sunning themselves, sometimes two or three deep, on stones and 

 logs that project from the surface of the water. If disturbed they 

 dive immediately and swim along beneath the surface. At night 

 they are frequently found in ditches and among wet grass. In the 

 lake at Kandy they frequent the mouths of drains that open into 

 the lake. But, as Miss Muriel Robertson has noted, some indivi- 

 duals are much more terrestrial in their habits than others. In 

 Ramnad I found both young and half-grown tortoises in the shade 

 of xerophytic plants growing in the sand a long way from water. 

 Mr. T. Southwell tells me that he has dissected many specimens in 

 Ceylon and has never found remains of any but vegetable food in 

 their stomachs. 



3. Race coronata (Anderson). 



Emys trijuga var. coronata, Anderson, Anat. Zool. Res. Yunnan. 

 p. 729; Siebenrock {Geoemyda trijuga coronata), Synops., 

 p. 496; Henderson {Geoeiiivda trijuga var. coronata), Rec. Ind. 

 Mus., VII, p. 218 (1912). ' 



