BAT AGUE. 37 



Batagur thurgii, Theob. Cat. Rept. Mus. As. Soc. 1868. p. 12 : id. 



Cat. p. 23. 



Kachuga oldhami, Gray, P. Z. 8. 1869, p. 200, fig. 14. 

 Hardella thurgi, Gray, Suppl Cat. Sh. Rept. i. p. 58 ; Bouleng. Cat. 



CM. $c. p. 63. 

 Hardella indi, Gray, Suppl. Cat. Sh. Rept. i, p. 58. 



Carapace moderately depressed, with an interrupted tubercular 

 keel ; margin not serrated ; nuchal narrow, broadest posteriorly ; 

 first vertebral usually narrower anteriorly than posteriorly, lateral 

 borders usually slightly sinuous ; second, third, and fourth verte- 

 brals considerably broader than long in the young, nearly as long 

 as broad in the adult. Plastron large, angulate laterally, truncate 

 anteriorly, angularly notched posteriorly ; the width of the bridge 

 exceeds the length of the posterior lobe ; the longest median suture 

 is that between the abdominals ; suture between the gulars as long 

 as that between the humerals or a little shorter (at least three 

 fourths) ; inguinal large, axillary smaller. Head moderate ; snout 

 short, obtuse ; upper jaw notched mesially, serrated ; lower jaw 

 very strongly dentated, flat inferiorly, its width at the symphysis a 

 little less than the diameter of the orbit. Limbs with transversely 

 enlarged, band-like scales. Carapace dark brown or black ; plas- 

 tron yellowish, with a large blackish spot occupying the greater 

 part of each shield, or entirely black. Soft parts dark brown ; a 

 yellow band across the prsefrontal region, extending on each side, 

 through the eye, to above the ear ; another from below each eye, 

 passing below the nostrils. 



Length of shell 18 inches ( $ ). Males much smaller. 



Hub. Northern India (Ganges and Indus systems). 



Genus BATAGUR, 

 Gray, Cat. Sh. Rept. 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 for- 

 mer connected with the first rib, the latter anchylosed between the 

 fifth and sixth costal plates ; entoplastron anterior to the humero- 

 pectoral suture. Skull with a bony temporal arch ; alveolar surfaces 

 very broad, that of the upper jaw with two strong, slightly den- 

 ticulated median ridges ; edge of jaws denticulated ; choanse be- 

 hind the level of the eyes. Limbs somewhat approaching the 

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

 short. 



Distribution. Bengal, Burma, Malay Peninsula. Thoroughly 

 aquatic ; herbivorous. 



