CATALOGUE OF SHIELD REPTILES. 



51 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



A. Head moderate, depressed. Beaks naked. Intergular plate 

 marginal. 



a. Claws 5 ■ 5. Head shielded. 



1. Sternothffirus. Front lobe of the sternum mobile, with a long 



internal process on each side. 



2. Felomednsa. Front lobe of the sternum fixed. 



b. Claws 5 ■ 4. Head with a thin skin, or subshielded. 



3. Flatemys. Head covered with a continuous skin ; neck 



warty on the sides. Shell depressed, light, sides revolute. 



4. Hydraspls. Head with many small shields. Shell depressed, 



thin, light, sides revolute ; cavity not contracted. 



5. Chelymys. Head with many small shields. Shell convex, 



very solid, strengthened with two compressed diverging 

 bony folds in front, sides revolute. 



B. Head large or very large. 



c. Claws 5 • 4. Head flat, depressed; beaks naked; chin not 



bearded. 



6. Chelodlna. Intergular plate within the margin ; nuchal plate 



small on the margin. Jaws naked. 



7. Hydromedusa. Intergular plate on the margin ; nuchal plate 



large, hke the vertebral, and within the margin. Jaws 

 warty at the angles. 



d. Claws 5 • 4. Head flat, much depressed ; beaks covered with 



fleshy lips ; chin bearded; intergular plate marginal. 



8. Chelys. Shell depressed, three-keeled. 



e. Claws 5 • 4. Head convex, rounded, covered with hard shields ; 



beaks naked. 



9. Peltocephalus. Head subquadrangular ; upper jaw hooked. 



Feet slightly webbed. 



10. Podocnemis. Head subdepressed, with a groove in front ; 



u])per jaw slightly arched. Feet broadly webbed. 



A. Head moderate, depressed. Beaks naked. Intergular 

 ■ jjlate margitial, between the gular pair. 



a. Claws 5*5. Head shielded. 

 Chelydidae A. a. Gray, Cat. Tort. B.M. 36 (1844). 



1. STERNOTH.ffiEUS. 



Shell roundish, rather convex, side plates narrow, frout 

 one very short and square. Nuchal plate none. Sternum 

 broad, front lobe rounded before, moveable, and furnished 

 on each side of its hinder edge with an internal bony pro- 

 cess, covered by the gular, humeral and pectoral plates ; 

 central lobe only covered by the abdominal plates ; hinder 

 lobe bifid, with an internal scar. Intergular plate marginal, 



between the gular. Beaks naked. Toes short, strong, 

 shielded above, shortly webbed. Claws 5 • 5, strong, sharp. 



Sternothserus, Bell, Zool. Jotirn. ii. 514. 

 Siemotherus, Gray, Sg7i. Rept. (18 ); Cat. Tort. 



B.M. 36. 



Di(m. ^- Bib. Erp. Ghi. ii. 397 ; Cat. Meth. R. 19 (not 

 Fitzinger) . 

 Pelusios, n^agler, Sysf. 137 (1830). 



Fitc. Syst. Repf. 29. 

 Sternothserus and Terrapene, sp.. Bell, Zool. Journ. ii. 305. 

 Terrapene, sp., Merrem, Tent. 

 Kinosternou §, Bonap. Saggio Anim. Vert. 12. 



The genus Sternothcerus of Mr. Bell {Zool. Journ. ii. 

 305) is exactly synonymous with one of Daudin's sections 

 of the Tortues ii holies, and contains species of the genera 

 Cistudo, Kinosternon, and the present genus, Sternothcerus. 



Mr. Bell, in his second paper (Zool. Journ. iii. 515), 

 gives as the type S. Leachianus, which is the same as 

 Terrapene nigricans of his former paper {Zool. Journ. ii. 

 305) ; — placing the genus with the other Box Tortoises in 

 Finydid<E, between Terrapene (claiisa) and Kinosternon. 



In my Synopsis of Reptiles I defined the genus so as to 

 confine it to the species similar to that type ; and Dumeril 

 and Bibron, in their work, adopted my views. Wagler 

 uses Pelusios for the same group. 



Wagler {Syst. Rept.) quotes Mr. Bell's first species, S. 

 trifaseiatus, as the type of his genus. 



* "Muzzle elongated, conical ; upper Jaw hooked." — 

 Dumeril. 



1. Sternothserus niger. The Black Sternoth^rus. 



Shell oval, short, swollen, narrower in front, deep black ; 

 mu2zle elongate ; upper jaw hooked, covering the lower. 

 Head elongate, with two large parietal, a long fronto-nasal, 

 and a moderate frontal shield ; upper jaws hooked. 



Stemotherus niger. Bum. Sf Bib. Erp. Gen. ii. 397; Cat. 

 Meth. iJ. 19. 



Gray, Cat. Tort. B.M. 37. 



Hab. Madagascar ? Mus. Paris. 



In the text, MM. Dumeril and Bibron refer their figure 

 t. 20.f. 1, to this species; but on the plates and in the 

 explanation of the plates they name it S. castaneus, and it 

 agrees with the latter in having a short head. 



** Muzzle short, rounded. 



2. Sternothaerus subniger. The Blackish Sterno- 



TH^RUS. 



Vertebral plates square, as long as broad, the fourth 



I 2 



