Zoologi/.} NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Reptiles- 



Plates 82 and 83. 



CHELYMYS MACQUARIA (Cuv. sr.). 



The Murray Tortoise. 



[Genus CHELYMYS (Gray). (Sub-kingd. Vertebrata. Class Reptilia. Section Cata- 

 phracta. Order Chelonia. Sub-ord. Pleuroderes. Fam. Chelydidce. Sub-fani. Hydraspidinae.) 



Gen. Char. — Carapace moderately convex, solid, ovate, wide behind, side edges slightly 

 turned up ; nuchal shield distinct ; internal cavity contracted in front to half the width of the 

 outer opening by two internal diverging septa ; vertebra sharply keeled within ; sternum solid, 

 narrow, anterior and posterior ends bent slightly upwards, with broad sides reflected upwards at 

 an obtuse angle, and a wide angular notch behind between the anal plates ; intergular plate 

 marginal. Head moderate, flat, covered by a thin, smooth skin, reticulated so as to form small 

 irregular plates on the temples ; no zygomatic arch ; ear-drum large, round ; jaws naked, horny, 

 strong ; neck long, with a granular skin ; two small conical barbels under the chin. Feet with 

 wide web between the toes ; claws long, acute, five on the anterior feet, four on the posterior 

 feet, the hiud posterior toe having no claw, Australia.] 



Description. — Shell ovate, moderately convex, with a slig-ht longitudinal, very 

 narrow sulcus along- the middle of the 2nd, 3rd, and ith vertebral shields,* interrupted 

 at their edges; 1st vertebral plate equal to the 5th, but shorter than the others, 

 larg-e, four-sided, narrowed and concave behind, touching- the nuchal, first marginal, 

 and half of second marg-inal plates, in front, outer sides slightly convex ; 2nd, 3rd and 

 4th obscurely hexag-onal, with waving- lateral marg-ins, the 2nd plate longest ; 5tli plate 

 widest behind, where it touches the caudal and half the last lateral plate on each side; 

 nuchal plate narrow, oblong-, one-third long-er than wide; all the other marginal 

 plates g-radually widening- towards the posterior end from the 4th, which is smallest, 

 very slig-htly inclined upwards, forming- a shallow concavity outside the convexity of 

 the sides of the carapace behind the anterior limbs to the caudal plates, which are 

 nearly on a level with the nuchal one, all the intervening- lateral plates being- a 

 little below their level ; the five posterior ones with a slig-ht notch in the middle of 

 each, and sometimes at the suture along- the edg-e. Vertebral, costal, and marg-inal 

 plates rugged, with narrow, irregularly reticulating, vermiform, impressed grooves, 

 chiefly longitudinal in direction. Plastron or sternum narrow, semi-oval, and wider 

 in front than behind, the sides slq)ing- upwards at an obtuse angle ; gular plates 

 triangular, smaller than the intergular plate which separates them on the margin. 

 Reticulation of the skin forming polygonal plate-like spaces on the temples; top of 

 the head covered with thin smooth skin; jaws naked; skin of anterior legs with the 

 granules between the reticidations of the skin larger and more plate-like than on the 

 neck, A row of long, arched, narrow, transverse scales on the anterior edge of the 

 leg, and a row of seven or eight not transversely elongated on the posterior edge. 

 Posterior limb with more regularly-plated granulation than the anterior, with a 

 distinct row of 6 or 8 large transversely enlongated plates on the posterior margin. 

 Color: — The whole of the upper surface dark brownish-olive; whole of the under 

 surface dull brownish and greenish yellow, irregularly netted with impressed 

 grooves, but without dark margins or spots. Skin of neck moderately granular, 

 reticulated, of a blackish-olive tint, a pale-yellow streak extending- from the edges 

 of the jaws across the lower edge of the ear a variable distance along each side of 

 the neck. 



« The diagrams ou Plate 83, figures 2 and 3, identify the different shields and plates referred to. 



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