268 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol. X, 



Sutlej (Ferozpore) had the complete femur of a large bird in its 

 stomach, while yet another had the nearl}^ complete pelvic girdle 

 and the sacral and two other vertebrae of a frog. T. gangeticus is 

 attracted by kneaded flour, which is used by the fishermen for bait- 

 ing their lines; hence very often they find on examining the line a 

 number of these creatures hanging by the hooks. The fishermen 

 usually bring these out of the river and breaking their necks throw 

 them out of the river, owing to the very large amount of damage 

 that they do to the line, also because the fish avoid the place where 

 there are tortoises. Some specimens from Ferozpore were kept 

 living in a tub of water for about two months. It was found that 

 they preferred old rotten flesh to everything else, though they would 

 not desist from eating any and everything when hungry. 



Remarks: — In the Punjab tortoises are not much esteemed as 

 an article of food except by the nomad tribes. The Sahnsies con- 

 sume them in quite large numbers. They have a peculiar way of 

 their own for catching them. They take the rotten and foul smell- 

 ing flesh of some animal and put it into the river close to the 

 shore. The tortoises are attracted in large numbers by the smell 

 and begin to feed on the flesh. Then a large number of these 

 people with a peculiar sort of harpoon of their own go into the 

 river and surround the spot on all sides ; and begin making a 

 good deal of noise, uttering shrill cries and so on. The animals 

 becoming terrified rush away, but are harpooned in large num- 

 bers by the Sahnsies. The harpoon pierces the carapace and in 

 some cases when it was wielded by some very strong man, it was 

 seen even to pierce the plastron of quite large individuals. 



The flesh is eaten, while the fat is stored and used instead of 

 oil or for making embrocations. The Sickligars also eat these 

 animals, but in much smaller numbers. 



Chilra indica (Gray). 



Boulenger, Fauna, p. i6 : Siebenrock, p. 608: iVnnandale (2), 



p. 169. 



The range for this animal as given in the Fauna is '' Ganges 

 and Irawaddy ; Indus?": by Dr. Siebenrock " Indien ; Nepal, 

 Allahabad; Ganges, Calcutta; Irawaddy" : and by Dr. Annandale 

 ''The Ganges and Irawaddi river systems as far as the base of 

 Himalayas in the former. The species is not uncommon in the 

 Gangetic delta and large individuals can often be bought in the 

 Calcutta market, in which, however, they are less abundant than 

 T. hurum and T. gangeticus.''' A specimen was recently obtained 

 from Makhu (Rivers Sutlej and Beas united), along with the other 

 forms here mentioned. It was a young female. The carapace 

 measured 16*8 X 18*4 cm. I have since obtained a larger specimen 

 at lyudhiana. 



Dr. Annandale has called my attention to the extremely small 

 size of the young of this species, which is certainly the largest of 

 the Indian Trionychidae when full grown. 



