326 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
shell not smaller than a full-sized skiff (cxa¢y), which is capable of 
holding ten medinni (120 gallons) of pulse.” 
I have not been able to find any account of the maximum sizes to 
which the shells of the Indian species of Trionyx attain, but I believe 
they do exceed four feet. AKlian’s account is too vague, and probably 
too much exaggerated, for any closer identification. There is a marine 
chelonian found in the Bay of Bengal, called Dermatochelys coriacea, 
the shell of which, according to Theobald, measures 66 inches over the 
curve. 
It is difficult to suggest a name for the land tortoise, which ‘lian 
describes as being the size of a clod of earth when turned by the plough 
in a yielding soil, as it might belong to several of the genera repre- 
sented in Western India. He states that ‘‘ they are sazd to cast their 
shells,” which is of course an impossibility. He concludes by saying 
‘‘they are fat things, and their flesh is sweet, having nothing of the 
sharp flavour of the sea-tortoise.” An exact identification of this 
animal, so superior to the turtle, should prove of interest to aldermen. 
25. Tur Serpent a Span Lone ("Odus orifapratos.) 
Eublepharis Sp.—Biscopra of the natives. 
Photios® and Ailian® describe, on the authority of Ktesias, a snake, 
which I feel unable to identify with any degree of certainty. The ac- 
count by the former is the more concise of the two, and is as follows: 
—‘‘TIn India there is a serpent a span long, in appearance like the most 
beautiful purple, with a head perfectly white, but without any teeth. 
The creature is caught on those very hot mountains whose rivers yield 
the sardine-stone. It does not sting, but on whatever part of the body 
it casts its vomit, that place invariably putrifies. If suspended by the 
tail, it emits two kinds of poison—one like amber, which oozes from it 
while living, and the other black, which oozes from its carcass. Should 
about a sesami-seed’s bulk of the former be administered to anyone, he dies 
the instant he swallows it, for his brain runs out through his nostrils. 
Tf the black sort be given it induces consumption, but operates so 
slowly that death scarcely ensues in less than a year’s time.”’ 
The lizard named above, the Sescopra of the natives, though tooth- 
less, is regarded as being very poisonous, and on this account I suggest, 
but with hesitation, that it may be the animal. It may, however, 
have been a true snake. 
26. Tue SxoLex (Sxddyé). 
Crocodilus, vel Gavialis—The Crocodile, or Garial. 
Several authors who have derived their information from Ktesias 
give accounts of the Skolex. The most complete is that by Ailian® 
59 Keloga in Photii, Bibl. lxxii. 16. 
60 Hist Anim., iv. 36. Cf. Anc. India, by J. W. M‘Crindle, p. 48. 
61 De Nat. An., v.33; Cf. Anc. Ind., by J. W. M‘Crindle, pp. 7, 28, 27, 56, 58. 
