1915-] Fauna of the Chilka Lake : Mammals, Reptiles and Batrachians. 173 



Chelone mydas (Linn.). 



A male of this species was taken in the otter-trawl in fresh water in the inner 

 part of the outer channel (Sept., 1914). Its carapace was 102 cm. long. The stomach 

 and the entire intestinal tract were tightly packed with weed. No external or internal 

 parasites were found on or in the specimen. 



Family TRIONYCHIDAB. 

 Genus Emyda, Gray. 

 This genus is monotypic but the single species is divided into five subspecies or 

 local races :— the forma typica, which occupies the Indo-Gangetic plain and ranges 

 eastwards to Arrakan ; scutata , which occurs in the Irrawaddy and Sal ween systems ; 

 intermedia, practically confined to the Mahanaddi and Godavari systems; vittata, 

 widely distributed over the remainder of Peninsular India and in Katch; ceylonensis, 

 only found in the plains of Ceylon. 



Emyda granosa (Schoepff) subsp. intermedia, Annandale. 



1912. Emyda granosa intermedia, Annandale, Rec. Ind. Mus., VII, p. 172, pi. vi, fig. 2. 



The races of E. granosa as a rule occur only in fresh water, but the typical form 

 has been taken on a small island off the coast of Arrakan. The Mahanaddi Pond 

 Turtle, as the race intermedia may be called, is common in ponds all over the Mahanaddi 

 system and at any rate on the lower reaches of the Godavari. It also occurs in the 

 valleys of some of the smaller rivers that make their way from the south or south- 

 west into the estuary of the Hughli, although in the Hughli itself the subspecies is the 

 forma typica. In the neighbourhood of the Chilka Lake intermedia is common in 

 ponds and rice-fields. A specimen was brought to us at Barkul in September that 

 had been found under a stone in the jungle some distance from water. In the thick- 

 ets of submerged weeds in the lake near Balugaon it is not uncommon. Specimens 

 were obtained both in September, when the water was quite fresh, and in March, 

 when its specific gravity (at 15 C.) was i - oo8. It is somewhat remarkable to find a 

 soft-skinned Chelonian living in brackish water, but the sole species of an allied Indian 

 and Malayan genus (Pelochelys cantoris l ) is exclusively estuarine and marine. 



A leech was found infesting the soft parts of the pond-turtle in the lake in 

 March. It has been identified by Mr. W. A. Harding as a new species of Placobdella. 



BATRACHIA. 



The only batrachian that we saw in the lake was the common and widely distri- 

 buted frog Rana cyanophlyctis, Schneider. In the rainy season and for as long there- 

 after as the water remains fairly fresh, this frog sits in large numbers at the edge 

 both of the outer channel and of the northern part of the main area, at places where the 

 margin is swampy, and skips over the surface of the water in its characteristic fashion 



1 See Boulenger, Faun. Malay Peninsula, Repu., p. 12 (1912.) 



