612 ]\JR. STA>'LEY S. TLOWEB OX THE [May 16, 



seen it from Singapore. The British Museum Catalogue mentions 

 one specimen from Siam (M. Mouhot), and I obtained one from 

 the neighbourhood of Bangkok. Cantor says it feeds upon frogs, 

 shell-fish, and animal offal. It can hiss when angiy. 



Colour (in life). Carapace uniform intense black. Plastron 

 entirely black, or black with some yellow mottlings, or rich dark 

 brown with pale bands following the sutures of the shields, the 

 most conspicuous being the median one. 



Head black, Avith conspicuous lemon-yellow spots, the principal 

 being above the eye (this spot is prolonged forwards on to the top 

 of the head), above the ear, and at the angle of the mouth, and an 

 irregular patch along each lower jaw to below the eye ; in some 

 adult specimens these spots disappear, the whole head being deep 

 black. JN'eck, hands, feet, limbs, and tail are deep black, the upper 

 parts of the limbs are, however, sometimes pale-coloured. Claws 

 horn-colour. Iris dark brown. 



Size, The largest specimen I have measured I found in a pond 

 in the jungle ou low undulating hills near Jenan, Kedah. 

 Length of carapace, following curve in median line . . 2(X) mm. 

 Breadth „ ., „ 170 mm. 



The smallest, caught in Kedah, June 1898, had the carapace 

 53 mm. in length. 



Males and females do not seem to differ much in size. 



Hah. Tenasserim, Siam, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo. 



S. Cyclemts PLATYis-OTA Grray. 



Emys platynota, Cantor, p. 3. 



Xotochdys jjlutynota, Giinth. E.ept. Brit. Ind. p. 17. 



Cydemys platynota, Blgr. Cat. Chel. etc. p. 130. 



" Katong " of the Malays (apiid Cantor). 



Localities. The Plat-backed Freshwater Tortoise lives in ponds 

 and swampy jungles ; its occurrence seems rather strange. Cantor 

 obtained it from Penang (apparently only a single specimen), but 

 it has not been recorded from there since, and there was not one 

 in the Ayer Etam Tortoise Temple when I visited it in April 1898. 

 A. E. Wallace obtained it in Singapore, but apparently no more 

 were seen in the island (Mr. Eidley informs me that for seven 

 years he never met this species) till 1897, when one was caught in 

 the lake in the Singapore Botanical Grardens, and Dr. Hanitsch 

 got three from Selitah, Singapore. 



Cantor says it inhabits the valleys of the Malay Peninsula, but 

 unfortunately does not give the actual localities ; however, we now 

 know of two places on the mainland where it occurs. First, in 

 the Perak Museum there are several specimens from the low-lying 

 country near Taipiug; second, in September 1897 I found eighteen 

 individuals in the streams among the foot-hills of Gunong Pulai, 

 Johore. 



Identif cation. In the P. Z. S. 1896, p. 859, 1 wrote : " I have not 

 made out to what species Cantor's Penang Tortoise belongs," 

 referring to Giiuther, E. B. I. p. 18, remarking that Cantor's Emys 



