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Show 1899.] REPTILES OF THE MALAY PENINSULA AND SIAM. 619 Superfamily TRIONYCHOIDEA. Family TRIONYCHIDCE. The Soft Turtles are known to the Siamese as " Ta-parp-naam " and " krow." Some of the Indian inhabitants of Penang call them " Cawchur." (In Benares, N.W.P., they were called " Cawchoo.") In the Taiping Museum there are several specimens of more than one species from the rivers and marshes of Perak. A large Trionyx was caught recently iu a ditch by the side of one of the principal roads in Singapore, right in the town; they are also from time to time trapped in the ornamental water in the Botanical Gardens there. Mr. Ridley, Director of the Gardens, tells me they are unwelcome visitors ; not only do they steal the food put out for the water-fowl, but they have killed two flamingoes which had been imported from Egypt. In the lake (Singapore) I have myself watched in the middle of the day two large Trionyx swimming and creeping slowly about in the swallow order, raising their heads to the surface at frequent intervals ; but as a rule these turtles are very seldom seen, even in waters where there can be no doubt they abound. 19. TRIONYX SUBPLANUS Geoffr. (Plate XXXVI.) Trionyx subplanus, Giinth. Rept. Brit. Ind. p. 49. Trionyx giintheri, Giinth. Rept. Brit. Ind. p. 49, pl. iv. fig. 4. Trionyx subplanus, Blgr. Cat. Chel. etc. p. 246 (skull fig. p. 247). Trionyx subplanus is recorded from Penang and Siugapore (P. Z. S. 1896, p. 860). In November 1896 I obtained one specimen in Penang; like other turtles of this genus, it tried fiercely to bite when handled. Colour (in life). The upper surfaces are pale yellowish olive, mottled all over with dark olive-brown. These markings are darker down the centre of the back, thus forming an irregular black vertebral line. There are also three pairs of indistinct eyelike markings, the anterior pair being situated almost at the front edge of the dorsal leather-shield. The remaining four eyes form a parallelogram on the centre of the back, but the posterior pair are slio-htlv nearer together than the median pair. There is a narrow light yellow edge to the posterior half of the dorsal leather-shield. The under surfaces are very pale lemon-yellow. About the head there are shades of red on the yellow ground-colour. There are five dark lines on the head; the outermost spring from the posterior border of the eyes, and are continued backwards and downwards on to the sides of the neck; in the centre of the forehead, level with the anterior border of the eyes, a dark line commences and runs back and bifurcates, thus forming a Y-shaped mark between and behind the eyes ; at the extremities of the branches of the Y the two lines converge together again for a |
