666 MURIEL ROBERTSON. 
Kmyda vittata is a soft tortoise covered all over with 
soft skin, coloured black above and pure white underneath, 
hence its native name of ‘ kirri ibba” or milk turtle. 
The animal has flaps on the under side so arranged that all 
the four limbs and the head can be completely withdrawn. 
Like most of this group it is more or less nocturnal in its 
habit, it is said to leave the water very rarely, but I have 
myself, while watching a pool near Allutoya, where the 
country is all jungle, seen one come out of the water imme- 
diately after sunset and start prowling about at the edge. 
These soft tortoises die if they are kept out of water for more 
than a few hours, so that in order to carry them safely from 
one place to another it is necessary to wrap them in a damp 
cloth or put them in a wet bag of sacking or palm leaf. ‘The 
creature is to be found practically all through the low 
country. I examined specimens from Colombo, from Kes- 
bewa and Hanwella (both not far from Colombo) from Ham- 
bentot, which is on the eastern side, and from ‘l'rincomalee, 
also on the eastern side. It is, relatively speaking, common, 
but not nearly so abundant as the lake tortoise, Nicoria 
trijuga, as far as I could make out they were on the whole 
more plentiful on the eastern side than in the west. 
I never heard of Emyda vittata being seen up country, 
although Nicoria trijuga is to be found in large numbers 
at Peradeniya and in the Kandyan district generally, which 
is at an elevation of nearly 1500 feet. 
Kmyda vittata is very generally infected both with a 
large ‘'rypanosome (Plate 16, figs. 1—4), and with a Hemo- 
eregarine. I never came across a really satisfactory negative 
case, although cases were observed where one or other of the 
parasites appeared to be absent. Protozoologists are quite 
familiar with the difficulty of being certain that a negative 
diagnosis is correct. I several times tested apparently nega- 
tive specimens only to find that at last a stray parasite or 
two did finally turn up. 
I attempted to obtain uninfected specimens by hatching 
out the eggs already provided with hard shells which were 
