158 NOTES FROM THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM, 



NOTES FROM THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



ON A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF FRESH WATER 



TORTOISE FROM THE FLY RIVER, NEW GUINEA. 



By E. P. Ramsay, F.R.S.E. 



(Plates III.-VI.) 

 Carettochelys, nov. gen. 



Head large subquadrangular, narrowed anteriorly, plates six ("?), 

 anch ylosed, rugose ; nostrils anterior, grooved ; jaws naked, with 

 sharp cutting edges, the lower curved, without notches ; palate 

 grooved. Head and limbs non-retractile. Arms elongate, narrow, 

 compressed, ridged on their rounded anterior portion with 

 narrow plates, nails free, on first two digits only, rest without 

 nails and strongly webbed, the tips flattened, the third the longest. 

 Hindlegs short, first two toes with strong sharp nails, nails only 

 free, the rest strongly webbed to the tips. Tail with narrow rings 

 above. Carapace shield-shaped, rounded and high in front, 

 pointed and keeled behind. Plastron of 9 shields (1) rounded 

 anteriorly and posteriorly, the 2nd and 3rd pairs anchylosed to the 

 marginals. (See plate III.) 



Carettocchelys insculptus. 



Adult female. — First vertebral plate oval, more than twice as 

 long as wide, joins the nuchal plate in front and ends within the 

 two adjacent costals, 3rd to 6th similar in form, the 4th the 



(1) There are two small portions cut away from between the 2nd and 3rd 

 plates and the marginals, so that it is impossible to say if these are extra 

 plates or parts of the marginals. 



