NICORIA. 27 



buttress, just reaching the first costal plate ; entoplastron intersected 

 by the humero-pectoral suture. Skull with a bony temporal 

 arch ; alveolar surfaces without median ridge ; choanas between 

 the eyes. Upper surface of head covered with undivided skin. 

 Digits with a short web or nearly free. Tail short, not longer 

 in the young than in the adult. 



Distribution. Oriental Region, Central and South America. 



Two species occur within the limits of the present fauna. Habits 

 terrestrial or semiaquatic. 



Synopsis of Indian Species. 



Digits webbed ; plastron brown or black .... N. trijuga, p. 27. 

 Digits nearly free ; plastron yellow N. tricarinata, p. 28. 



24. Nicoria trijuga. 



Emys trijuga, Schioeigg. Prodr. p. 41 (370) ; Gunth. llept. B. I. p. 29. 

 Melanochelys trijuga, Gray, P. Z. S. 18C9, p. 187 ; Thcob. Cat. p. 12. 

 Emys trijuga, var. maderaspatana, Anders. An. Zool. Res. Yunnan, 



p. 729. ^ 

 Nicoria trijuga, Bouleng. Cat. Chelon. $c. p. 121. 



Carapace moderately depressed, tricarinate. Vertebral shields in 

 adult as long as broad or longer than broad, and much narrower 

 than the costals ; nuchal moderate or small, sometimes absent. 

 Plastron large ; the width of the bridge equals or a little exceeds 

 the length of the posterior lobe, which is broadly notched ; front 

 lobe truncated. Axillary and inguinal shields present. Upper jaw 

 not hooked, notched mesially ; the width of the mandible at the 

 symphysis is less than the diameter of the orbit. Digits distinctly 

 webbed. Tail shorter than the head. Shell brown, with a yellow 

 stripe on each side of the plastron ; keels sometimes yellowish. 

 Head brown, in the young reticulated with yellowish (in spirit), 

 and with a yellowish line from the eye to above the tympanum. 



Length of shell 9 inches. 



Hub. Peninsula of India and Punjab. 



Var. thermalis. 



Emys thermalis, Lesson, Cent. Zool. p. 86, pi. xxix. 



Geoclemmys seba, Gray, Cat. Sh. Kept, i, p. 18. 



Emys trijuga, Kelaart, Prodr. p. 177 ; Gunth. Kept. B. 1. pi. ii, fig. C. 



Melanoclielys sebfe, The^b. Cat. p. 12. 



Emys sebse, Anders. An. Zool. Res. p. 729. 



Shell dark brown in the young, with a broad yellow border to 

 the plastron ; keels often yellowish ; shell of adult deep black, with 

 a narrow yellow border to the plastron. Soft parts blackish ; head 

 of young and halfgrown with irregular bright- orange spots, which 

 disappear in the adult. 



Length of shell 9 inches. 



Hab. Ceylon. 



