STERNOTHERUS SINUATUS— Smith. 



Reptilia. — Plate I. (Male.) 



S. capite pallide stramineo-bninneo marmorato ; capitis lateribus viridi-flavis ; coUo livido-brunneo 

 pedibus stramineis maculis brunneis variegatis ; testa supra viridi-bninnea, subtus aurantia, nibri- 

 brunneo niarginata ; unguibus rubri-brunneis ; mandibula superiori apice emarginato ; inferiori 

 apice acuminato, sursum producta. 



Colour. — Head above pale straw-yellow, finely marbled with brown lines ; 

 sides of head and lower jaw, greenish -yellow ; neck livid brown; legs inter- 

 mediate between wine and straw-yellow ; nails reddish brown, occasionally 

 inclined to yellow. Shell above dark greenish brown, the colour deepest 

 towards the margin ; the vertebral and the upper extremities of the costal plates 

 tinted with livid grey ; sternum, pale orange, variegated towards its edges 

 with deep reddish brown, the latter colour most abundant upon the gular, the 

 intergular, the anal, and the lateral parts of the abdominal plates ; outer 

 sides of upper and under jaws dark brown, with fine reddish brown vertical 

 lines. Eyes straw-yellow. 



Form, &c. — Shell oblong, convex, and rather high ; margin ovate, and 

 broadest behind, where it is more or less sinuated. The second and third 

 vertebral plates nearly horizontal and six-sided, the anterior edge of each 

 narrower than the posterior ; the fourth somewhat six-sided, the anterior edge 

 broader than the posterior ; the first somewhat four-sided, the anterior edge 

 much broader than the posterior, and each of its angles sometimes produced so 

 as to form on each side a triangular projection between the first costal and the 

 anterior marginal plates ; near the centre of the anterior edge of this plate is 

 another triangular projection which enters between the two foremost marginal 

 plates ; the posterior dorsal plate somewhat of the same form as the anterior 

 one, only narrower; the third and fourth plates with a central elevation towards 

 their hinder margins. Costal plates higher than broad, four-sided, the first of 

 these where it is in contact with the marginal plates very wide, which gives it a 

 somewhat triangular appearance. Marginal plates twenty-four : the first, se- 

 cond, third, fourth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth, four-sided, the fifth, sixth, 

 seventh, and eighth, more or less five-sided, and on the anterior side of each at 

 the very margin of the shell is a small triangular process, which is received into 

 a corresponding cavity in the hinder edge of the scale immediately in front of 

 it ; margin between the fore and hinder legs obtuse, elsewhere thin and sharp. 

 Sternum semicircular in front, deeply emarginate behind ; a transverse joint 

 between pectoral and abdominal plates ; gular plates small and triangular ; 



