68 Zoological Society :— 
organized on very much the same plan, and are confined to a very 
limited space or group of islands on the earth’s surface. 
Description or A Sorr Tortoise (Asprpocuetys Livine- 
STONII) FROM THE ZAMBESI, SENT TO THE British Museum 
BY Dr. Livincstone. By Dr. Jounn Epwarp Gray, F.R.S., 
V.P.Z.S., Pres. Ent. Soc., etc. 
The British Museum has lately received from Dr. Livingtone the 
dorsal and sternal shields of a large fluviatile Soft Tortoise from the 
country near the Zambesi. It was accompanied by the skull of a 
foetal African Elephant, and some other bones of that animal. 
Some years ago I received through the Earl of Derby a Soft 
Tortoise from the River Gambia, which differed from the genus 
Emyda, to which it was allied, in having no bones on the hinder part 
of the margin of the dorsal shield. I therefore proposed to esta- 
blish for it a new genus. 
When I described this genus I called it Cyclanorbis, but re- 
ceived a note from Dr. Peters, before the account of this genus was 
printed, in which he informed me that he had found near Mozam- 
bique, on the River Zambesi, a Tortoise which was called Casi, which 
wanted these bones on the hinder part of the margin of the dorsal 
shield, and which he had proposed to call Cyclanosteus frenatus, 
on account of certain black streaks on the head. I obliterated my 
name, and adopted that which my friend Dr. Peters had suggested, 
and described the one I had received from the Gambia under the 
name of Cyclanosteus Petersii (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853 ; Ann. & Mag. 
N. H. 1855, xv. 69; Catalogue of Shielded Reptiles in the British 
Museum, 64, t. 29). 
The animal from the Zambesi which we have received from Dr. 
Livingstone agrees with the animal from the Gambia in wanting 
the bones in the hinder part of the margin of the dorsal shield; but 
it differs so essentially in the structure of the sternum that it is 
necessary that another genus should be established for its reception. 
Now, it may be the Casi of the natives, but unfortunately Dr. Living- 
stone has not sent its native name, and it may be the Cyclanosteus 
frenatus of Dr. Peters; but I cannot find any description of that 
animal. It is not noticed, nor any other Tortoise, in the review 
of the Amphibia collected during his Travels, which Dr. Peters 
published in the ‘Monatsberichte der Berliner Academie,’ 1854, 
p- 614, and which is reprinted in Wiegmann’s Arch. 1855, p. 43. 
Under these circumstances, as I applied Dr. Peters’ name Cyelanos- 
teus to the animal from the Gambia, and first gave the character to 
that genus derived from that species, and, as my description of that 
genus appears to be the only one that has been published, I think 
that the name Cyclanosteus must be retained for the Gambian Tor- 
toise, although probably Dr. Peters in his note intended it to refer to 
the Mosambique form. If I do so, the reference to Dr. Peters’ 
MS. must be erased from my account of the animal in the papers 
