12 TESTUDINIDyE. 



Gymnojms indicus (nou Gray), Cantor, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 



xvi, p. 616 (1847). 

 Pelochelys cantorii, Gray, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 90, figs. ; Boiileng. Cat. 



Ciielou. p. 263 (1889); id. Faun. Brit. Ind., Keirt. p. 15 (1890); 



S. Flower, P. Z. S. 1899, p. 021. 



Malay name, Labi-lab L 



Disk not or but little longer than broad ; last costal plate 

 forming a suture with its fellow ; a single neural plate between 

 the first pair of costals. Epiplastra small and widely separated 

 from each other ; entoplastron forming a right or an acute angle ; 

 plastral callosities largely developed in the adult. Dorsal skin of 

 young tuberculate. Head moderate ; snout very short and broad. 

 Olive above, uniform or spotted wdth darker ; lips and throat of 

 young olive, speckled with whitish or yellow ; ventral region 

 white. 



Length of disk 940 millim. 



Prom Bengal and China to the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago 

 and New Guinea. Specimens are in the local museums from the 

 coasts of Perak and Selangor, and are not unfrequently caught on 

 lines of hooks set for sharks and rays. 



According to Cantor this turtle occurs in estuaries and on the 

 sea-coast. At Penang it is frequently taken in the fishing-stakes. 

 It is very powerful, and of ferocious habits. 



Family TESTUDINIDiE. 



Shell covered with epidermal, horny shields ; the neural and 

 costal plates bordered by a series of marginals. Plastrou large, 

 with an entoplastron of rhomboidal shape, and the epiplastra in 

 contact with the hyoplastra. Parietal bones widely separated 

 from the squamosals. Ear distinct. Head and neck completely 

 retractile. Digits short or moderately elongate ; phalanges with 

 condyles ; claws four or five. 



Terrestrial or aquatic Tortoises, distributed over every part of 

 the world except Australia. Eggs spherical or ova^, hard -shelled. 



Synojisis of the Genera. 



I. Limbs club-shaped ; alveolar surface of upper 



jaw with a median ridge Testudo, p. 13. 



II. Digits distinct, with at least a rudiment of 

 web; alveolar surface of upper jaw without 

 median ridge. 

 A. Alveolar surface of jaws moderately broad ; 

 choanas between the eyes. 

 Plastron united to the carapace by suture, immovable ; [p. 16. 



no bony temporal arch , , Geormsda, 



