THE PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF SCIENCEVOL. 16 FEBRUARY, 1920 No. 2 PHILIPPINE TURTLES By EDWARD H. TAYLOR Of the Bureau of Science, Manila SEVEN PLATE INTRODUCTION As compared with Borneo, Java, Sumatra, or Japan, thePhilippine Islands are not rich in either genera or species ofterrestrial turtles. In fact only three genera, represented byfour species, are positively known; these are Cyclemys, Heose-mys, and Pelochelys. Several species representative of othergenera have been reported, but there appears to be no specimento substantiate any of the records. Borneo has representativesof nine genera and about fifteen species; Java, seven genera andnine species; Sumatra, ten genera and thirteen species; Japanand Formosa, six genera and seven species. On the other handonly two genera and two species are known from Celebes. One new species, Heosemys leytensis, from the southern partof Leyte, is described in this paper. Two specimens were col-lected there by Gregorio Lopez, together with other turtles to beused for dissecting in the zoological department of the Univer-sity of the Philippines. He obtained forty specimens belongingto three species; namely, Cyclemys dhor, C. amboinensis, andHeosemys leytensi. It would appear that these land turtles areplentiful in that locality. In most localities they are rare; incollecting during seven years I have found less than a half dozenspecimens, all of which belonged to Cyclemys amboinensia. According to Manobo accounts a large turtle with a hardshell occurs in Agusan River. Rewards offered for specimensfailed to bring forth this turtle; nevertheless, it is extremely 169667 111~XI
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