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Show 1899.] REPTILES OF THE MALAY PENINSULA ANII SIAM. 609 the various synonyms and a description of each species will be found; I have only given other references and remarks on the description of species where it seemed these were needed for ready reference by other workers, or where they were made necessary by the fresh material examined during the last few years. Part III.-LIST OE SPECIES, with Remarks on their Localities, Habits, Life-coloration, 6fc. Order CHELONIA. General terms applied to all Tortoises and Turtles :-• Siamese. " Tow-darng-darng." Malay. " Koora-koora." Jakun. " Binku." (H. J. Kelsall, J. S. B. ft. A. 8., No. 26, 1894, p. 7.) All Tortoises, though not apparently considered actually sacred animals, are held by many Siamese and Chinese in religious veneration, and are kept and fed by the devout in temples and private enclosures. In a Chinese temple in the valley of Ayer Etam in Penang, in April 1898, I saw about fifty tortoises, belonging to five species ; many of these had " chops " or Chinese characters stamped on their shells. In Bangkok we were informed that tortoises are kept in order to " make merit" with Buddha ; anyway we noticed when living there that, however much our Siamese water-carrier might neglect to bring water for our own use or for other animals in captivity, he never forgot to replenish the supply in the tank where our collection of live tortoises was kept. Once at Ayuthia, in February 1898, I met a Chinaman carrying a fine tortoise, painted with the sacred yellow colour; though I offered him a large sum for the animal he declined to sell it, as he had determined to give it to the shrine of the colossal Buddha there. There is also a Chinese belief that a turtle can act as a sort of " scape-goat," and take away a man's sins, if it is suitably inscribed and set free. When one of these marked turtles is captured a second time, it is considered more efficacious. And if a turtle is caught whose " chops " show that it has been liberated thus twice, it can be sold by the lucky finder for a very high figure to some man who finds his past misdeeds to hang particularly heavy on his conscience and wishes to have all mention of them erased from "the recording angel's book." Suborder ATHEGE. Family SPHARGIDC*E. 1. D E R M O C H E L Y S CORIACEA (L.). Dermochelys coriacea, Blgr. Cat. Chel. etc. p. 10 (skull fig. p. 9). The Leathery Turtle mentioned as supposed to have been caught near Singapore, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 857, has been found really local. |