Br. A. Gunther on three new Species o/'Eremias. 381 
XXXIX. — Description of three neio Species o/Eremias. 
By Dr. A. GiJNTHER. 
Eremias nitida. 
Snout not much produced or depressed, not much longer 
than the cleft of the orbit. Eyelid scaly. The labial margin 
of the suborbital shield is not longer than the preceding upper 
labial. Ventral scutes in six longitudinal and twenty-six 
transverse series. A brown longitudinal band along the back,, 
separated by a brownish-red line from the black lateral band. 
Sides from behind the eye deep black, with two parallel white 
lines proceeding from the eye, the upper above the tympanum, 
the lower passing through its lower part. Tail and limbs 
uniform brownish. Lower parts white. 
West Africa. Two specimens ; the body of the larger is 
40 millims. long^ its tail being 90 millims. 
Eremias SjpeMi. 
Snout rather produced and pointed. Eyelid scaly. All the 
shields on the upper surface of the head ornamented hy deep 
grooves. Supraorbitals with a few small scales in front and 
behind. The labial margin of the suborbital shield not longer 
than the preceding upper labial. Vertical narrowest and 
truncated posteriorly. Ventral scutes in six longitudinal and 
thirty transverse series. Dorsal scales very small, but each 
with an oblique keel. Brownish, with three white longitu- 
dinal lines on the back, and sometimes with another rather 
irregular one along the side. Short black cross bars between 
the white lines. 
Two specimens were obtained by the late Capt. Speke in 
5° 7' S. lat., between the coast and Unyamuezi. The body of 
the larger is 53 millims. long (without tail). 
Eremias Fordii. 
Allied to E. Knoxii. 
Snout pointed, moderately produced. Eyelid scaly. An- 
terior frontal not in contact with the rostral ; generally an 
azygos shield between the posterior frontals. Vertical narrow 
and truncated behind ; a series of granules between the supra- 
ciliaries and supraorbitals. The infraorhital does not enter the 
labial margin^ and is situated above the fifth ^ sixth^ and seventh 
supralabials. Dorsal scales very small, each with an oblique 
keel. Ventral scutes in twelve longitudinal and twenty-nine 
transverse series. Prjeanal scales rather large. Toes distinctly 
serrated behind. Brownish, with black spots, which are ar- 
ranged in longitudinal bands, one on each side of the back 
being the broadest, and including round whitish ocelli. A 
382 Note hy Dr. J. Anderson on 
narrow black median band is generally limited to the nuchal 
region, rarely extending to the end of the trunk. 
Cape Colony. Several specimens from Sir A. Smith's col- 
lection. The body of the largest is 63 millims. long. 
XL. — Note on Trionyx gangeticus, Cuvier, and Trionyx 
hurum, B. Hamilton. By John Anderson, M.D., Calcutta. 
Having examined forty-five living specimens of a Trionyx 
the young and adolescent individuals of which agree in their 
form and coloration with the figure given in Hardwicke and 
Gray's '■ Illustrations of Indian Zoology ' as Trionyx java- 
nicus^ Schw., and having removed the skulls and compared 
them with Cuvier's figure of T. gangeticus^ I do not hesitate 
to refer them to one and the same species, i. e. T. gangeticus^ 
Cuvier ; the adult skulls in form and size agree with the 
skull figured by Dr. Gray as T. gangeticus^ Cuvier ; whereas, 
on the other hand, the Trionyx hurum and T. oceUatus of 
Dr. Gray (that is, specimens corresponding exactly with these 
drawings, which Dr. Gray afterwards referred to the T. gan- 
geticus of Cuvier) yield skulls quite distinct from Cuvier's 
figure of the skull which he regarded as the Trionyx du Gangel 
The true Trionyx gangeticus, Cuv., is therefore the species 
which has hitherto gone under the name of TjavanicuSySchw., 
if by the latter were meant Trionyches agreeing with the figure 
so named in the ' Illustrations of Indian Zoology.' The skulls, 
however, of such forms, as they answer in every detail to 
Cuvier's figure, could not well be referred to any other species; 
so we have here another instance of a Chelonian animal as a 
whole having a specific geographical name allocated to it, 
while its dismembered skull has awarded to it another but 
kindred term. The cause of this unfortunate jumble of names 
as applied to the Trionyx of the Ganges, and each of which 
implies a distinct theory as to its distribution, is not difficult 
to explain, so long as animals are described, as in this case, 
from drawings, without any practical knowledge of the struc- 
tural characters of the animal itself. 
One hundred and twenty examples, living specimens, shells, 
and sterna, of the common Trionyx of the Ganges have passed 
through my hands ; but in collecting them I succeeded in ob- 
taining only two individuals agreeing with Dr. Gray's figures 
of T. Jiuricm and T. oceUatus. The abundance, therefore, of 
the former indicates the propriety that, in one sense, exists in 
the name given to it by Cuvier. Specimens agreeing with 
the last-mentioned figures yield skulls in no way resembhng 
the skull figured by Cuvier as T. gangeticus. The head-