62 



CATALOGUE OF SHIELD REPTILES. 



2, Podocneinis Diimeriliana. The Tracaja. 



Tab. XXVIII. 



Shell oval, convex, swollen, nicked in front, brown varied 



with black ; the second and third vertebral plates keeled. 



Sternum yellowsh ; under side of marginal plates with a 



blackish-varied spot. Head elongate, rather narrow. 



Podocnemis Dumeriliana, IVagler, Syst. 155. 



Bum. ^ Bib. Erp. Gen. ii. 387 ; Cat. Meth. R. 18. 



Gray, Cat. Tort. B.M. 45. 

 Emys Dumeriliana, Schiueig. Prod. 300. no. 9. 



Schlegel, Favn. Japan. 48. 

 Hydraspis Dumeriliana, Gray, Syn. 42. 



Young. Head black, with a yellow spot on the forehead, 

 two larger on each side of the occiput and temples, 

 and two on each side of the jaws. 



Emys Cayennensis, Schweig. Prod. 298. no. 6. 

 Emvs ervthrocephala, Spix, Bras. t. ". 

 Hydraspis lata. Bell, MSS. 



Gray, Syn. Sept. 77 ; Cat. Tort. B.M. 41. 



Hah. Brazils ; Venezuela ; Cayenne ; Guadaloupe. Mus. 

 Paris. 



a. Adult female (stuffed). Lakes of Upper Amazon : 

 called Tracaja. Mr. Bates's Collection. 



h. Young (stuffed) ; imperfect. Black. From the Zoo- 

 logical Society. 

 Hydraspis lata. Bell. 



d. Young (hi spirits). Brown ; edge of shell yellow ; be- 



neath paler brown. Para. Mr. Bates's Collection. 



e. Very young (stuffed). 



Osteology : — 



c. Adult shell. Tab. XXVIII. 



"The male Tracaja and PiYm are comparatively rarely 

 caught ; they never come on shore, and can only be obtained 

 by the arrow ; their number is also small in proportion to 

 the females. I have not been able to obtain a specimen." — 

 E. Wallace, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1851. 



Schlegel regards Emys Tracaxa, E. macrocephala, and 

 E. Dumeriliana as synonyma of this species, which he has 

 not seen. 



3. Podocnemis SEXTUBERCULATA. " Testa ovata sterno 

 fortiter adhsesa, hoc sex tuberculos prsebente sccus 

 margines laterales, caruucula mentali luiica." 



Cornalia, Verteh. Synopsis in 3Iuseo Mediolanensi (1849), 

 13. uo. 13. f. 3. 



b. Back covered with a soft skin. Toes digitate, webbed, 

 three-clawed. Beaks covered with free Jleshy lips. 



Amyda, Schiveig. MSS. Institute of Paris (1 809) (see Dum. 



^ Bib. Erp. Gen. i. 416, 421) ; Prod. 

 Trionyx, Geoff. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. xiv. 15. 

 Oppel, Rept. 10. 

 Merrem, Tent. 20. 

 Amydsea, 0^^lel, Rept. (1811). 

 Testudines stegauopodes (part.), Wagler, Syst. 133. 

 Potamites ou Tortues fluviatiles, Dum. ^- Bib. Erp. Gen. ii. 

 461 ; Cat. Meth. R. 22. 



Fam. IV. TEI0NYCID.5; (Soft Turtles). 



Head flattened, ovate. Eyes small, superior. Jaws horny, 

 covered with dependent fleshy lips. Chin not bearded. 

 Nostrils elongated into a thin cyUndrical trunk. Neck loug, 

 contractile. Feet short, strong. Toes 5 • 5, short, expanded, 

 strongly webbed, two outer clawless. Claws 3 • 3. Tail 

 short, conical, simple. Shell covered with a hard cartila- 

 ginous skin, usually expanded and flexible on the edge, the 

 ribs only vinited together and to the vertebrae above, sejia- 

 rate below. Sternum formed of a ring of bones, covered 

 with a continuous skin, and in the adults furnished with 

 rough callosities on the prominent i)art. Pelvis only at- 

 tached to the vertebrEe. Living in rivers and lakes in warm 

 climates : often lying in the mud with the head only ex- 

 posed : eating flesh, and rarely vegetables. Eggs spherical. 



The ribs become united together for a greater propor- 

 tion of their length, and the sternal callosities appear and 

 increase in size as the animal increases in age ; hence thev 

 do not afford specific, much less generic characters. 



Amyda, Schweig. MSS. 



Trionicidoe, Gray, Ann. Phil. x. 211 (1825). 



Bonop. Saggio Anim. Vert. 13 (1832) ; Tab. Analyt. 



10 (183G). 

 Swainson, Lard. Cyclop. 344. 

 Trionichidae, Bell, Zool. Journ. iii. 515 (1828). 

 Chilotfe, TJ'iegm. ^ Riithe, Handb. 1(J7. 

 Triouicina, Donap. Tab. Analit. 10 (1830). 

 Trionix (Les Tortues molles), Cuvier, R. A. ii. 15. 

 Steganopoda labiata, Fitz. Syst. Rept. 30. 

 Trionyches, Fitz. Sijst. Rept. 30. 

 Trionichoides, Fit:inger, Neue Class. (1826). 

 Phyllopodochelones (part.), Ritzen, Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. 



xiv. 269 (1828). 

 Chersydrochelones (part.), Rit:en, I. c. 269. 

 Amydse (part.), Ritzen, I. c. 269. 

 Potamites ou Tortues fluviatiles, Dutn. ^ Bib. Erp. Gen. ii. 



461 ; Cat. MM. R. 22. 

 Gymnopodi (part.). Gray, Ann. Phil. x. 212 (1825). 

 Trionvx, Geoffroy, Ann. Mus. xiv. 

 Oppel, Rept. (1811). 



Geofi'roy used as characters the existence and non-exist- 

 ence and form of the anterior vertebral bone ; but all the 



