146 
FASCICULI MALATENSES 
to 4,500 feet), collected by the late Mr. L. Fea, and which I first referred to 
Testudo emys} 
I have lately examined a rather large number of specimens of Testudo 
emys^ from the Malay Peninsula and from Borneo, and doubts, similar to 
those expressed by Dr. von Lidth de Jeude,^ have arisen in my mind as to 
the specific identity of Testudo phayrii and Geoemyda impressa. The type of 
the former having been carefully figured by Anderson,^ and the skull of its 
co-type by Gray,^ it is possible to form a correct idea of the specimens 
with which to compare the new material. Both the tortoises brought home 
by Messrs. Annandale and Robinson agree with Testudo phayrii in the shape 
and proportions of the plastral shields, and in having the nuchal shield much 
wider than long, but the carapace is more flattened, more of the lateral 
marginal shields being visible when the shell is viewed from above, and 
the second and third vertebral shields have a different shape, their antero- 
lateral borders being much shorter than the postero-lateral. The greater 
depression might be merely due to age, the type of Blyth’s species 
measuring 510 mm. in shell-length. As to the second differential character, 
it appears to me to be of specific importance, and, coupled with the 
difference in the temporal arch, suffices to separate T. pseudemys. 
In all the specimens,^ four in number, which agree with T. emys in having 
the pectoral shieJds of plastron more or less widely separated from each other, 
the antero-lateral border of the second and third vertebral shields is as lonrr 
O 
as the postero-lateral, or but slightly shorter ; this is quite irrespective of the 
great difference in shape which these shields undergo with age, the shells at 
my disposal varying from 120 to 480 mm. in length. With one exception 
(the type of Manouria fusca^ Gray, from Penang), all these specimens have 
the nuchal shields as long as broad, or longer than broad. 
Judging from the figure given by Gray, the skull of T. phayrii is identical 
with that of T. emys ; and as the extent of the pectoral shields is a character 
subject to considerable variations according to Anderson, whose figures show 
a gradual passage between the two extreme types, I think it best to provisionally 
maintain the species T. emys in the sense in which 1 have taken it in the 
Catalogue of Chelonians published in 1889. 
‘ The two specimens of Testudo pseudemys were taken on a jungle path at 
dusk, within a few yards of one another. When alarmed they drew in their 
1. Ann, Mus. Geno-va (2) xiii, 1893, p. 312. 
2. Notes Leyd. Mus. xvii, 1895, p. 197. 
3. Proc. Zool. Soc.^ 1871, p. 426. 
4. Proc. Zool. Soc., 1869, p. 470 ( Scapia falconert). 
5. Mostly from Borneo ; three from Penang, two from the Larut Hills, Perak. 
