Miscellaneous. 367 



Damonia obloiiga, a new Species of Freshwater Tortoise. 

 By Dr. J. E. Giiay, F.E.S. 

 We have lately purchased of Mr. Edward Gerrard, jun., a specimen 

 of a freshwater tortoise which he received from Batavia. 



It is very like Damonia macrocepJiala , from Siam and Cambogia, 

 but differs in being of a narrower oblong form and having very diffe- 

 rently shaped shields over the vertebral line, and in the shell being 

 of a more uniform black colour, especially on the underside. 



Damonia ohlonga. 



Shell oblong, elongate, scarcely wider behind ; back convex, black, 

 obscurely 3-keeled, the lateral keels being on the upper edge of the 

 costal plates ; first vertebral shield longer than broad, urn-shaped — 

 that is, contracted on the front part of the sides ; the second nearly 

 quadrangular, as long as broad, slightly angled on the sides ; third 

 and fourth hexangular, the fourth rather broader than long, and very 

 narrow behind. Sternum flat, high, aud keeled on the sides, black 

 except where worn. Head very large, flat at the top, blackish 

 brown, with a pale streak from above the nostril, continued over the 

 orbit, becoming wider over the temple, and continued along the 

 side of the neck ; nose with three perpendicular streaks on each side, 

 the outer ones continued below into a broader streak extending 

 along the side of the jaw under the orbit to the angle of the mouth 

 and on to the neck; under edge of the lower beak and of the 

 shields on the side of the chin pale-edged. Head covered with thin 

 smooth shields, one large plate extending from the nose to the 

 occiput, with small subsymmetrical shields behind it, the shields on 

 the side of the head being largest ; a large temporal shield on each 

 side extending from the back edge of the orbit to the front edge of 

 the temple and the angle of the jaw ; lower eyelid large, smooth, 

 with two thin band-like plates. 



The yellow lines under the nostrils are very similar to those in our 

 largest sijocimen of Damonia maerocephala ; but our smaller one of 

 that species has only two perpendicular lines under the nostrils ; so 

 that probably the lines in this species also vary in this respect. 

 The head-shields of the two species are very similar ; indeed there 

 is no doubt these species are very nearly allied; but they differ con- 

 siderably in the dorsal shields and general colouring and form of 

 the thorax. ^ The first costal shield elongate, much larger than the 

 same shield in D. inacrocepluda. 



Delphinus microps. 

 Mr. Krefft has sent a photograph of the animal and skull of this 

 species. He observes that the animal, which has not been before 

 described or observed, is marked on the skin exactly like the figure 

 of D. Forsteri in the ' Voyage of the Erebus and Terror,' from For- 

 ster's drawing in the Banksian Library. There is a darker stripe 



from the head to the fin : and the animal is about 8 feet lon<r 



J.E. U. " 



