134 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [May, 19H 



ated over the green areas, and in all very old turtles this was 

 the case, so that the colouration of the head might be described 

 as black with small greenish spots, which tended to disappear 

 altogether with age. The smallest turtle seen had a carapace 

 rather over a foot long. It wa3 diversified above with black 

 and yellow vermiculations which formed an incomplete reticu- 

 lation; it bore traces of four large blackish ocelli with pale 

 margins. The markings of the head were more distinct than 

 in large individuals. It is evident, therefore , that T. nigricans 

 differs considerably in colouration from any other Indian 

 species, but resembles its ally T. phayrei in a general way in 

 this respect, as it does also in skull-characters. Many of the 

 turtles at the shrine had large white blotches on the skin of 

 the head, neck and limbs; but these were evidently due to 

 disease or injuries. [N> AnnanDALE .] 



//. Some instances of the use of mud-tvrtles in worship and icono- 

 graphy in Northern India. 



(a) Altara(Fedt) raised for Vedic sacrifices are generally 

 built on bricks of various shapes, sizes and forms ; but when 

 the ground is prepared for building an altar, they make a rather 

 deep depression at the centre of the area covered by the altar. 

 In that depression they put a mud-turtle and give it food to 

 last till the end of the sacrifice and the destruction of the 

 altar. If the turtle is alive, the sacrifice is regarded as auspi- 

 cious ; if it dies, inauspicious. There was such a Vedi (of 

 course without the tortoise) in existence at the house of the 

 Nepalese Pandit Siromani Bhattacaryya at Benares five years 

 ago, when I visited that place. They told me that after the 

 sacrifice the turtle was found living. The Vedi may yet be in 

 existence, for Siromani' s son told me that they would keep it 

 as a momento of the sacrifice. It was a Syena Ydga and the 

 altar was in the form of a hawk. 



(6) At Visnupur in the district of Bankura sets of round 

 lacquered cards, a hundred and twenty in number, are used 

 both in play and in gambling. The hundred and twenty cards 

 are divided into groups of twelve, each group representing one 

 of the incarnations of Visnu. The first of the group is the 

 King, and when the incarnation is human it has two hands, 

 but when it is not human four hands, the lower half of the body 

 being represented by the lower part of the animal. The second 

 of the group is the Mantri or minister. He is of the same shape 

 as the Raja, but smaller in size and has two companions. The 

 other ten cards of the group contain one to ten of the emblems 

 of the appropriate incarnation. In the case of the tortoise 

 incarnation the emblem is a tortoise. So in the set of cards 

 there are fifty- five figures of tortoises and two more, but they 



