1809.] KEPTILES OF THE MALAY rENl>-SULA AKD SJAil, Gil 



eatea by Siamese and Chinese. When excited tliey make a sliglit 

 hissing noise. Besides obtaining specimens in Bangkok in January, 

 April, August, October, November, and December, we got one at 

 Ayuthia in February in a small lotus-lily pond. 



An egg of this species, laid 17th April, 1897, was (as usual with 

 tortoises) white with a hard shell, and measured 32 mm. on its 

 longer and 20 mm. on its shorter axis. 



Colour (in life). Shell chestnut-brown, with a more or less dis- 

 tinct large blaclv spot on each shield ; edges of the marginal plates 

 more or less yellow ; plastron yellou', each shield with a large black 

 blotch and chestnut-brown markings. 



Head black, except the crown, m hich is rich dark brown, and the 

 following very well-defined markings, which are lemon-yellow : — a 

 semicircle of small spots on the upper eyelid ; a streak from the 

 top of the snout to the temple, following the canthns ro^stralis and 

 the supraorbital edge ; a broader streak, nearly joining the last, 

 starting from the superior-posterior corner of the eye and con- 

 tinued along the side of the neck ; below this is an interrupted 

 line of oblong spots commencing at the posterior border of the eye 

 and continued down the neck ; a broad streak commences on the 

 loreal region and finishes at the angle of the mouth ; two vertical 

 streaks from the nostrils to tlie mouth, outside and parallel to 

 these streaks are two vertically oblong spots ; the edge of the 

 upper mandible is also yellow ; a very distinct V-shaped mark on 

 each side of the mandible ; from the angle of the mouth a yellow 

 streak descends to the lower surface of the head and there expands 

 into a large spot, and another streak runs back along the neck. 

 IS^eck dark brown, with four narrow yellow lines along each side, 

 some very small yellow spots above, and numerous yellow vermicu- 

 lations beneath. Limbs black or dark broun, with lemon-yellow 

 markings. Tail dark brown, with longitudinal yellow lines con- 

 vei-ging at the tip. Iris very narrow, yellow. 



ISize. A female from Bangkok, adult, measured : — 



AVidth of head, 37 mm. 



Carapace, length, in straight line 155 mm. ; following the cur\e 

 167 mm. 



Carapace, width, in straight hue 122 mm.; following the curve 

 153 mm. 



Hab. Siam, Cambodia, Java. 



7. Bellia cbassicollis Gray. 



Emys crassicollis. Cantor, p. 3 ; Giinth. Kept. Brit. Ind. p. 28, 

 pi. iv. fig. E ; Stol. J. A. S. B. 1870, vol. xxxix, part ii. p. 227. 



Bellia cra-'^sicoUis, Blgr. Cat. Chel. etc. p. 98 (skull fig. p. 98, 

 shell fig. p. 99). 



The Black Tortoise is common in small freshwater streams and 

 ponds in Penaug and Kedah ; it is one of the species kept by the 

 Chinese priests in the Ayer Etam Tortoise Temple. Apparently, 

 like some other freshwater tortoises, this species is very local, as 

 there is no specimen of it in the Perak Museum and I have not 



