26 testudinidjE. 



Genus BATAGUR. 

 Gray, Cat. Sh. Eept. i, p. 35 (1855). 



Neural plates elongate, hexagonal, anterior lateral margins 

 shortest. Plastron extensively united to the carapace by suture, 

 with extremely developed axillary and inguinal buttresses, the 

 former connected with the first rib, the latter anchylosed between 

 the fifth and sixth costal plates ; entoplastron anterior to the 

 huraero-pectoral suture. Slaill witli a very broad bony temporal 

 arch ; alveolar surfaces very broad, of upper jaw with two strong, 

 slightly denticulated median ridges ; edge of jaws denticulated ; 

 choante behind the level of the eyes. Limbs somewhat approach- 

 ing the paddle-shape, very broadly webbed, with four claws. Tail 

 very short. 



A single species, of thoroughly aquatic habits ; omnivorous. 



22. Batagur baska. 



Emys baska, Gray, Syn. Rept. p. 24 (1831). 



Tetraonyx affinis, part., Cantor, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, xvi, 



p. 612 (1847). 

 Bataqur haska. Gray, Cat. Sb. Rept. i, p. 35, pi. xvi (1855) ; Giinth. 



Rept. ]Mt. Ind. p. 37, pi. ill, fig. B (18G4) ; Bouleng. Cat. Chelon. 



p. 61 (1889) ; id. Faun. Brit. Ind., Rept. p. 38 (1890). 



Malay name, Tuntong. 



Carapace moderately depressed, with a vertebral keel in the 

 young, which keel disappears in the adult ; nuchal shield broader 

 than long ; second to fourth vertebral shields subequal, much 

 broader than long in the young, nearly as long as broad and as 

 broad as the costals in the adult : postero-lateral border of the 

 third vertebral shield concave. Plastron large, strongly angulate 

 laterally in the young, convex in the adult, truncate anteriorl)'', 

 notched posteriorly ; the width of the bridge exceeds the length 

 of the posterior lobe ; the longest median suture is between the 

 abdominal shields ; inguinal shield large, axillary smaller. Head 

 rather small ; snout pointed, produced ; upper jaw feebly notched 

 in the middle. Limbs with transversely enlarged, band-like scales. 

 Olive brown above, yellowish beneath. 



Length of shell 530 millim. 



Bengal, Burma, Cochinchina, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra. Very 

 common on all the larger rivers of the Peninsula, laying its eggs, 

 the collecting of which is in many States a royal prerogative, on 

 sandy banks, above the influence of the tides. 



Note.' — Platystermim megace'plialum. Gray, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 100, 

 representing the family Platysternida?, allied to the Testudinidse, 

 remarkable for its very large head and its very long tail (longer 

 than the carapace), and inhabiting Southern China, Siam, and 

 Burma, should be alluded to here, a specimen having been obtained 

 on Bukit Timah, about 10 miles from Singapore town. But it 

 was probably introduced from Southern Chiua. 



