290 KEPTILES. [Chap. IX. 



parasites found on the spotted lizard of Berar by Dr. 

 Hooker, each of which presents the distinct colour of 

 the scale to which it adheres. 1 



The marshes and pools of the interior are frequented 

 by terrapins 2 , which the natives are in the habit of 

 keeping alive in wells under the conviction that they 

 clear them of impurities. These fresh-water tortoises, 

 the greater number of which are included in the genus 

 Emys of naturalists, are distinguished by having their 

 toes webbed. Their shell is less convex than that of 

 their congeners on land (but more elevated than that 

 of the sea-turtle); and it has been observed that the 

 more rounded the shell, the nearer does the terrapin 

 approach to the land-tortoise both in its habits and in 



THE THREE-RIDGED TORTOISE (EMYS TRIJUGA) 



1 Hooker's Himalayan Journals, is distinct. It is generally distri- 

 vol. i. p. 37. buted in the lower parts of Ceylon, 



2 Cryptopus granum, Schopf. in lakes and tanks. It is the one 

 Dr. Kelaart, in his Prodromus usually put into wells to act the part 

 (p. 179), refers this to the common of a scavenger. By the Singhalese 

 Indian species, C. punctata ; but it it is named Kiri-ibba. 



