CHELONIA. 717 



In the Supplement to the foregoing work ^ the characters of Geoemyda were 

 altered, and the toes were stated to be short, expanded, strong, united to the claws or 

 slightly webbed ; and the important observation was made that the zygomatic arch 

 was absent. Two other species were referred to the genus, one described by Dr. Gray 

 from Cambodja under the name of Geoemyda grandis, and a species from Central 

 India, G. tricarinata, Blyth. 



In the Appendix to the same work^ we at last find the Testudo emys, M. and S., 

 referred to as synonymous with Manouria fusca, and this name changed to Manouria 

 emys ; and it is also stated that the animal had been erroneously confounded with 

 Geoemyda speciosa, Dr. Giinther having been the author who first corrected the 

 error into which Dr. Gray had fallen in describing the Testudo emys, Miill. and 

 Schleg., under the new specific name ftisca. 



Dr. Giinther, in his Reptiles of British India,^ in his definition of the genus, 

 mentions that the toes are very distinct and the hind toes moderately webbed, and 

 that the two species, G. spmosa and G. grandis, appear to be intermediate forms be- 

 tween Testudo and Emys. He also referred to G. tricarinata, Blyth, but apparently 

 with doubt regarding its generic position. 



Theobald, in his Catalogue of Reptiles,^ and in his Account of the Reptiles of 

 Pegu,^ separated the four genera, Manouria, Geoem^yda, Cuora, and Cyclemys, from 

 the Umydidce under the family name of Geoemydidce, considering them as Mmydidce 

 (and therefore properly as a tribe of that family,) characterized by a concave sternum 

 in the male, which he considered indicated more terrestrial habits than the typical 

 Emydidce which he distinguished from the Geoemydidce by the males having a flat 

 sternum. Such a character, however, seems not of sufficient importance to con- 

 stitute a family, more especially as there can be no doubt but that the sternum 

 of certain species of true Emydes is more or less concave. These remarks apply 

 to Geoemyda, which has all the osteological and internal anatomy of an Emyde, 

 whereas the so-called genus Manouria is structurally distinct from these two forms. 



Theobald^ has described under the name of Chaibassia a new sub- genus, of the 

 habit of Geoemyda, taking as his type the Geoemyda tricarinata, Blyth,'' already 

 mentioned, distinguishing the new sub-genus by its complete zygomatic arch. The 

 type of G. tricarinata, Blyth, was from Chybassa, in the District of Singhbhum, 

 Chota Nagpur, Bengal, but when Theobald described his new sub -genus, he had 

 before him, besides one of Blyth' s types, three living tortoises which he identified 

 with G. tricarinata, and which he stated were from the Naga Hills. I am, how- 

 ever, informed by Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin- Austen, who collected these speci- 

 mens, that they did not come from the Naga Hills, but were from the Bishnath 



1 1. c, p. 25. 



' 1. c, p. 7. 



3 1. c, p. 18. 



* Journ. As. Soc, ex. No., vol. xxxvii, pt. ii, 1868, p. 9. 



5 Journ. Linn. Soc, vol. x, 1868, p. 10. 



6 Descr. Cat. Eept. of India, p. 6, 1876. 



^ Journ. As. Soc, Bengal, vol. xxiv, 1855, p. 6. 



