314 Memoirs of the Indian Museum. [Vol. VII, 



" Testudo elongata and T. travancorica belong to a small group of species which are very closely allied 

 but remarkably isolated geographically. This group consists of four species : T. travancorica, from 

 the southern part of the Malabar Zone of Peninsular India ; T. parallelus, of which only a single specimen 

 is known, from Chota Nagpur, in the middle of Peninsular India ; T. elongata, with the widest range 

 in the group, extending from Jalpaiguri in the extreme north-east of the plains of Bengal, through 

 Assam, Burma and the northern part of the Malay Peninsula to Siam and Cambodia ; and T. forstenii, from 

 the island of Celebes. Discontinuous as the range of the group appears tobe, the close structural simi- 

 larity and the remarkable resemblance in faciès indicate that the range was once continuous. Moreover, 

 the existence of a single specimen from the interior of Peninsular India, captured many years ago, sup- 

 ports this view and suggests that rare annectant forms may linger on as yet undiscovered in inacces- 

 sible districts, perhaps of very limited area." 



Superfamily FILARIOIDEA, Weinland, 1858. 

 Family FIL AMID AE, Claus, 1885. 

 Subfamily FILARIIN AE, Stiles, 1907. 

 Genus " Filaria ", sens. lat. 

 Filaria haje, Wedl, 1862 (?). 

 Young Filariid worms, perhaps belonging to this species, occurred twice in 

 the intestine of the cobra (Nuja tripudians) and twice in that of the banded krait 

 (Bungarus fasciatus). All of these are immature forms, about 6-8 mm. in length, and 

 without characters which would enable them to be assigned definitely to any well- 

 established genus. They have a relatively long posterior glandular portion of the 

 oesophagus. Wedl's (1862) description is very brief, and does not enable his species 

 to be recognized with certainty. His specimens were found either free or encapsuled 

 in the thoracic cavity, outside the lung. It is not indicated whether the present 

 material occurred free in the lumen of the intestine or not. 



Filaria abbreviata, Rud., 18 19 (?). 

 (Fig. 50.) 



The collection contains two female specimens of a Filariid from the orbit of 

 Saxicola, sp. They are possibly referable to the above-named species, of which no 

 full description appears to exist. Our material appears to agree fairly well with the 

 account of F. abbreviata given by Molin (1858), and for this reason we tentatively 

 refer it to this species. 



The larger specimen is about 24 mm. long and o - 57 mm. in thickness. The 

 anterior end of the body is abruptly attenuated and sharply truncated. The cuticle 

 is smooth, and we are unable to detect the longitudinal rows of deciduous spines to 

 which Molin refers. The mouth opens into a small buccal cavity which is about 

 0*032 mm. deep and 0*02 mm. in diameter. We are unable to distinguish any teeth 

 at the base of the buccal cavity, but its wall is thrown into folds presenting an ap- 

 pearance which might easily have been mistaken for teeth. The oesophagus consists 

 of two parts. The anterior portion is 0*25 mm. in length and distinctly more slender 

 than the posterior portion. The latter measures 075 mm. in length and about 0'i2 



