1847.] Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 61! 



Length of the head, feet 3 inch. 



Ditto ditto neck, 2f 



Ditto ditto shell, 1 6 



Ditto ditto tail, 2| 



Gen. Cistudo, Fleming. 



Head moderate, covered with a thin hard continued skin, Toes 



5-4, webbed to the claws, web thick, with a small intermediate lobe 



between the claws. Tail short. Shell convex, ovate, or hemispherical. 



Sternum broad, rounded before and behind, completely closing the 



cavity of the thorax, affixed to it by a ligamentous, symphysis, and 



divided by a cross suture between the pectoral and abdominal plates. 



Sternal shields twelve. Inguinal and axillary plates very small, but 



distinct. Marginal plates 23-27. Nuchal plate small or wanting, 



Cistudo amboinensis, (Daudin.) 



Syn. — Testudo amboinensis, Daudin. 



Emys amboinensis, and couro, Sehweigger, 



Tortue a boite d' Amboine, Bosc. 



Terrapene amboinensis, Merrem, 



Kinosternon amboinense, Bell. 



Cistuda amboinensis, Gray. 



Terrapene couro, Fitzinger. 



Emys couro, apud "Wagler. 



Terrapene bicolor. Bell. 



Emys couro, Var. Sehlegel, apud Gray. 



" Baning" of the Malays of the Peninsula. 



Habit. — Malayan Peninsula, Singapore. 



Java, Amboina, Philippine Islands, Tenasserim provinces. 



Shell hemispherical, slightly three-keeled, blackish, margin broad 



expanded, nuchal shield linear ; sternum black and yellow- varied ; 



animal blackish, varied with yellow, head dark with two broad yellow 



streaks on each side. 



The dorsal keels become obsolete with age, and the margin of the 



shell, particularly the posterior part, becomes revolute. This species 



appears to be numerous in the valleys, in ponds, rivulets and paddy 



fields. It is very timid, withdrawing its head and limbs when handled, 



though it neither bites nor scratches. The largest individual observed 



was of the following dimensions, 



Length of the head, 2 inch. 



Ditto ditto neck, 2^ 



Ditto ditto shell, 7 



Ditto ditto tail. . . . 1 



