1899.] EEPTILES or THE MALAX PENINSULA AND SIAM. 613 



platynota " was certainly an incorrect determination, as is evident 

 from his description." However, on comparing Cantor's description 

 with living specimens of O. platynota (subsequently identified as 

 such by Mr. Boulenger), I have no doubt he refers to this species, 

 and the description appears good. 



Varieties. There appear to be two fairly distinct varieties 

 occurring in the same localities, differing in the number of vertebral 

 shields (5 and 6 respectively), in the general shape of the carapace, 

 and in the colour of the head. 



Habits. When alarmed the Flat-back hisses after the manner of 

 tortoises, and in common with some other species, but to a greater 

 extent, it has the very objectionable habit of voiding excrement time 

 after time when it is picked up or handled ,• however when, after 

 some weeks, it gets used to being handled it ceases to do so. In 

 captivity it spends all its time by preference in sh;dlow water ; it 

 feeds most voraciously on almost any vegetable, but prefers fruit, 

 of which it will get through a large quantity in a day. It is 

 curious to see with how much enei'gy two or three of these tor- 

 toises will tight over a piece of banana. Out of about fourteen 

 species of tortoises which I have kept as pets, these Flat-backs, 

 although the least ornamental to look at owing to their nearly 

 uniform muddy-brown colour, are the most active and intelligent ; 

 they quickly get tame and learn to run up to one and even follow 

 for some little way if rewarded by a piece of fruit, they will climb 

 out of boxes and baskets which other tortoises never find their way 

 out of, and I have seen two of them attack a big water-snake 

 (Acrochordus javanicus). The battered condition which their shells 

 sometimes are in may perhaps be accounted for by their enter- 

 prising nature. Cantor's experience of his platynota differs from 

 mine, as he says : " It lived in my garden at Penang upwards of a 

 twelvemonth, apparently without food, and it was never observed 

 to enter a tank." But Dr. Hanitsch, who has a collection of live 

 tortoises at Singapore, has remarked the tameness and voracity of 

 this species \ 



Size. The largest specimen I have measured, a male from Johore, 

 is in length of carapace, following the curve, 280 mm. 



Hab. Mergui, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo. 



9. CxcLEMTS DHOE (Grray). 



Cyclemys oldhamii, Giinth. Eept. Brit. Ind. p. 15, pi. v. fig. B. 



Cyclemys dJior, Blgr. Cat. Chel. etc. p. 131. 



The British Museum Catalogue mentions two specimens from 

 the Laos Mountains, collected by M. Mouhot. I can find no 

 direct evidence of its occurrence in the Malay Peninsula (vide 

 P. Z. S. 1896, p. 859). 



Hab. Northern India, Burma, Siam, Cambodia, Malay Penin- 

 sula, Java, Borneo, and Mentawei Islands (Sipora). 



^ A specimen of C. platynota in the Ghizeh Zoological Gardens repeatedly 

 climbs out of an enclosure where iave other species of tortoises are kept and 

 remain ; the side is of vertical " rabbit-wire" netting three feet high. — 25.3.99. 



Pfioo. ZooL. Soc.— 1899, No. XL. 40 



