20. TESTUDO. 175 



Shell of adult elongate, at least twice as long as deep, with (ho 

 posterior margin very strongly expanded and more or less serrated ; 

 nuclial horder fcehly notched ; nuchal shield elongate, narrow ; 

 supracaudal undivided, spread out like the marginals ; dorsal sliields 

 concentrically striated, sometimes convex ; second vertebral shield 

 usually longer than third, the width of which equals that of the cor- 

 res])onding costals. I'lastron large, hind lobe notched behind and 

 movable in the adult ; suture between the humeruls usually not 

 longer than that between tlie pectorals or the gulars ; suture between 

 the anals as long as or longer than that between the abdominals ; 

 axillary and inguinal moderate. Head moderate ; a large prae- 

 frontal shield, followed by a nearly e(iually large frontal; beak 

 feebly hooked ; alveolar ridge of upper jaw rather short and feeble. 

 Anterior face of fore limb with large imbricate scutes, forming 

 four or five longitudinal and five or six transverse series : no enlarged 

 tubercle on the hinder side of the thigh. Coloration very similar to 

 that of T. ihera ; carapace of adult usually black, each shield Avith a 

 small yellow or greenish spot ; plastron yellowish, each shield witli 

 a large black spot, which is usually triangular, the base of the 

 triangle occupying the anterior border of the shield. 



Length of shell 28 centim. 



Greece. 



«. cJ.stftU. Athens. Dr. Lortet [P.]. 



h. cS , shell. Greece, 



c,d. d $ , stflH. ? 



e. J, skel. ? 



/. 2 ) carapace. ? 



36. Testudo leithii. 



Testudo marginata, part., Diwi. ^- Bib)-, ii. p. 37 (1835) ; Gray, Cut. 



Tort. p. 9 (1844), and Sh. Rept. i. p. 11 (1855). 



leithii, Giinth. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, p. 502, figs. 



Peltastes leithii, Grai/, Suppl. Cat. Sh. Rept.'i. p. 11 (1870). 

 Testudo kleiumanni, Lortet, Arch. Mus. Lyon, iii. p. 188 (1883), and 



iv. p. 11, pi. V. (1887). 



Very closely allied to T. marginata, but much smaller and differing 

 iu the following points : — Carapace shorter, not twice as long as 

 deep, deeply notched anteriorly ; nuchal shield triangular ; postei'ior 

 border of supracaudal forming an angle, projecting beyond the 

 marginals. Anterior face of fore limb covered with a few extremely 

 large imbricate scutes disposed iu three longitudinal and five 

 transverse series. Carapace yellow or yellowish, each shield 

 bordered anteriorly and laterally with blackish brown ; plastron 

 yellow, each abdominal shield with a dark brown triangular or 

 cuneiform marking. 



Length of shell 12 centim. 



Siud * ; Lower Egypt and neighbouring part of Syria. 



* The fact that the species has not been rediscovered in Sind renders it 

 possible that it is not indigenous. Dr. Leith's specimen may have been 

 urchased by him iu Siud, or may have been imported. 



