[Footnote 1: _Emyda Ceylonensis_, GRAY, _Catalogue_, p. 64, tab. 29 a.; _Mag. Nat. Hist._ p. 265: 1856. Dr. KELAART, in his _Prodromus_ (p. 179), refers this to the common Indian species, _E. punctata_; but Dr. Gray has shown it to be a distinct one. It is generally distributed in the lower parts of Ceylon, in lakes and tanks. It is put into wells to act the part of a scavenger. By the Singhalese it is named _Kiri-ibba_.]
[Footnote 2: Chelonia virgata, _Schweig_.]
[Footnote 3: "Tiktontai de ara en tautê tê thalattê, kai chelônai megintai, ônper oun ta elytra orophoi ginontai kai gar esti kai mentekaideka pêchôn en chelôneion, hôs hypoikein ouk oligous, kai tous hêlious pyrôiestatous apostegei, kai skian asmetois parechei."--Lib. xvi. c. 17. Ælian copied this statement literatim from MEGASTHENES, _Indica Frag_. lix. 31; and may not Megasthenes have referred to some tradition connected with the gigantic fossilised species discovered on the Sewalik Hills, the remains of which are now in the Museum at the East India House?]
The hawksbill turtle[1], which supplies the tortoise-shell of commerce, was at former times taken in great numbers in the vicinity of Hambangtotte during the season when they came to deposit their eggs, and there is still a considerable trade in this article, which is manufactured into ornaments, boxes, and combs by the Moormen resident at Galle. If taken from the animal after death and decomposition, the colour of the shell becomes clouded and milky, and hence the cruel expedient is resorted to of seizing the turtles as they repair to the shore to deposit their eggs, and suspending them over fires till heat makes the plates on the dorsal shields start from the bone of the carapace, after which the creature is permitted to escape to the water.[2] In illustration of the resistless influence of instinct at the period of breeding, it may be mentioned that the same tortoise is believed to return again and again to the same spot, notwithstanding that at each visit she had to undergo a repetition of this torture. In the year 1826, a hawksbill turtle was taken near Hambangtotte, which bore a ring attached to one of its fins that had been placed there by a Dutch officer thirty years before, with a view to establish the fact of these recurring visits to the same beach.[3]