47 



E M Y S . — Brotigniart, Dumeril. 



Genus Emys. — Characters. Shell depressed, solid; sternum broad, solid, immov- 

 able, firmly joined to the shell, consisting of twelve plates, and four supplemental 

 ones; extremities palmated, anterior with five nails, posterior with four; head of 

 ordinary size; tail long. 



EMYS HIEROGLYPHICA. 



Plate 11. 



Characters. Shell oval, depressed, ecarinate, smooth, entire in front, elongated 

 and imperfectly serrated behind; sternum oblong, emarginate posteriorly, dingy 

 yellow; head very small; upper jaw slightly emarginate, lower jaw furnished with 

 a tooth. 



Description. The shell is oblong-oval, very flat, smooth, ecarinate, entire in 

 front, and imperfectly serrated behind. The first vertebral plate is urceolate; the 

 second and third are hexagonal, the former with its anterior, the latter with its 

 posterior margin, concave; the fourth vertebral plate is very irregularly hexagonal, 

 with the lateral angles produced; the fifth heptagonal. The first lateral plate 

 is irregularly triangular, with the basis rounded, and joined to four marginal plates; 

 the second and third are hexagonal, with an acute angle above, received between 

 the vertebral plates; the fourth is pentagonal. The marginal plates are twenty- 

 five in number; the nuchal or intermediate plate is nearly a parallelogram; the first 

 marginal plate is irregularly quadrilateral, with its anterior and external angle 



