1847.] Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 609 



A. — Vertebral plates lozenge-shaped. — Gray. 

 Emys crassicollis, Bell, MSS. apud Gray. 

 Syn.— -Emys crassicollis, Bell, apud Dum. and Bibr. 

 Emys spengleri, Var, Schlegel. 

 Shell ovate, oblong, rather convex, re volute on the sides and deeply 

 toothed behind, black, slightly three-keeled ; keels close ; first verte- 

 bral plate elongate, six-sided ; sternum flat, pale, and keeled on the 

 sides ; head and neck thick, black. 

 Habit. — Malayan Peninsula, Pinang. 

 Sumatra, Java. 

 In Malayan individuals, numerously inhabiting rivulets and ponds 

 in the valleys, the throat is whitish, and a small white spot appears on 

 each side of the occiput. The vertebral keels and the lateral spines 

 become obliterated with age. The largest individual observed was of 

 the following dimensions :-— 



Length of the head, If inch. 



Ditto ditto neck, If 



Ditto ditto shell, 9 



Ditto ditto tail, \ 1 £ 



It feeds upon frogs and also upon shell-fish and animal offal. Old 

 Malay women, who may be seen after every heavy fall of rain, spending 

 hours, rod in hand, over the overflowing ditches, out of which their 

 huts rise, are often ludicrously disappointed on perceiving this tortoise 

 on the hook. 



B. — Vertebral plates broad, six-sided. Gray. 

 Emys platynota, — Gray. 

 Syn. — " Katong" of the Malays of the Peninsula. 



Shell ovate, convex, yellow dotted, with the centre of the back quite 

 flat, as if truncated ; shields striated, nucleus central ; vertebral shields 

 broader than long, six-sided, 5 th keeled ; the front and hinder margin 

 strongly toothed ; sternum flat, truncated before ; and slightly notched 

 behind ; tail moderate, tapering. 



Habit. — Malayan Peninsula, Pinang. 

 Sumatra. 

 Mr. Gray's description refers to the young animal, of which the 

 length of the shell is given in Proceed. Zoolog. Soc. 1834. P. 54, 

 as 9 inches. The representation of Emys platynotha in Illust. Ind. 



