Dr. J. E. Gray on Scapia Phayrei. 321 



Mr. StoHczka's short letter in your September number, ]). 212, 

 fully confirms my belief that the skull belonged to a very 

 distinct form of tortoise, which had not come under my ob- 

 servation in a more perfect state. 



Tlie synonymy of the species will run thus : — 



Scapia Phayrei. 



Testudo Phayrei, Blyth, .Toiirn. As. Soc. Calc. xxii. p. 639. 



Manouria etm/s, Theobald,JJourn. As. Soc. Calc. 18(J8, p. 9; Journ. Linn. 



Soc. X. p. 10 (not Giinther). 

 Testudo itidica, Theobald, /. c. p. 8 (not Gmelin). 

 ^'Mausuria, Emys,^^ Theobald, /. c. p. 88. 

 Scapia Falconeri, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869 : Suppl. Cat. Shield Rept. 



p. 6, f. 1 (skull only). 



Hab. Aracan {Blyth). 



The following account of the animal and thorax of this 

 genus is given by Blyth : — 



" Carapace smooth, as in T. angulata and T. radiata, but 

 much flatter, oblong, subquadrate, its free marginal plates 

 reverted and moderately serrate. Nuchal plate broader than 

 long ; caudal plate double ; gular plates longer than broad, 

 moderately notched ; anal broader than long, and deeply 

 notched. Beak unemarginate. Fore limbs covered with very 

 long, thick, and imbricate scales, much as in a Pangolin. 

 Claws elongate, strong, and thick ; similar great elongated 

 scales at the heels, and a group of five principal obtuse spines 

 on either side of the tail, the medial of them remarkably strong 

 and thick ; two or more smaller spines or thick elongate scales 

 above the tail." 



The genus Scapia is very nearly allied to Manouria^ and 

 chiefly difiers from it in the greater width and greater size of 

 its pectoral plates, in the same manner as Pelomedusa subrufa 

 differs from Pelomedusa yehajie^ which are the types of the 

 subgenera Pentonyx and Pelomedusa. 



Until lately Mr. Blyth and Mr. Theobald considered Testudo 

 emys (the type of Manouria) and Testudo Phayrei (the type of 

 Scapia) to be synonymous, until I pointed out the difference 

 in the skull ; and then they observed the difference in the pec- 

 toral plate. At the same time, Mr. Theobald regarded Mr. 

 Blyth's typical specimen of T. Phayrei as the same as I', indica 

 of Gmelin, thus confounding as the same species the shortest- 

 and the longest-headed tortoises known. 



The knowledge of the animal of the genus Scapia renders 

 it desirable to make an alteration in the arrangement of the 

 genera of this family Avhich is given in the ' Supplement to the 

 Catalogue of Shield Reptiles, the alteration being more in 

 the characters given to the two chief sections than in the sec- 



y 



