MORETflA. 35 



Genus MORENIA, 

 Gray, Suppl. Cat. Sh. Kept, i, p. 62, 1870. 



Neural plates hexagonal, anterior lateral margins shortest. Plas- 

 tron extensively united to the carapace by suture, \^ith short axil- 

 lary and inguinal buttresses, just reaching the first and fifth costal 

 plates ; entoplastron anterior to the humero-pectoral suture. Skull 

 with a bony temporal arch ; alveolar surfaces A'ery broad, that of 

 upper jaw with a strong tuberculate median ridge ; edge of jaws 

 strongly toothed ; choanje behind tlie level of the eyes. Upper 

 surface of snout and crown covered with a single shield, behind 

 which the skin is corrugated. Digits extensively webbed. Tail 

 short. 



Distribution. Northern India and Burma. Aquatic; herbivorous. 



Synopsis of the Species. 



Suture between abdominal shields longer than that 



between pectoials M. ocel/ata, p. S,^. 



Suture between abdominal shields not longer than 



that between pectorals M, petersii, p. 3G. 



32. Morenia ocellata. 



Emvs ocellata, Dvm. i^- iJih)-. Erp. Gen. W, p. 329, pi. xv, fig. 1 ; 



Gimth. Hept. B. 1. p. 22. 

 Emys berdmorei, Jilyth, J. A. S. B. xxvii, 1858, p. 281. 

 Morenia berdmorei. Gray, Suppl. Cat. Sh.Bept. i, p. G2 ; Theob. Cat, 



p. 17. 

 Batagur (Morenia) ocellata, Anders. An. Zool. lies. Yunnan, p. 755, 



pis. Ix & Ixi. 

 Morenia ocellata, Bouleng. Cat. Chel. ^-c. p. 66. 



Carapace moderately depressed, with a strong, interrupted, 

 tubercular keel in the young, which becomes fainter in the adult ; 

 margin not serrated ; nuchal narrow ; first vertebral not or but 

 little broader anteriorly than posteriorly, lateral borders usually 

 sinuous ; second, third, and fourth vertebrals broader than long 

 or as long as broad, narrower than the costals. Plastron large, 

 angulate laterally, truncate anteriorly, notched posteriorly ; the 

 width of the bridge exceeds the length of the hind lobe ; the 

 longest median suture is that between the abdominals : suture 

 between the gulars as long as that between the humerals or 

 shorter ; axillary and inguinal large. Head moderate ; snout 

 short, obtuse ; upper jaw notched mesially, denticulated ; lower 

 jaw strongly serrated, flat beneath, its width at the symphysis 

 equalling the diameter of the orbit. Scales on limbs small ; digits 

 broadly webbed. Tail very short. Carapace brown, each shield 

 of the disk with a large central blackish ocellus encircled with 

 yellowish ; lower surface uniform yellow. Head olive, with yellow 



d2 



