

12 



AITEXniX TO T1IK CATALOGUE OK SHIELD REPTILES. 



mount, a and varnished; and it now appears to be more 

 olive-colour, slightly variegated with darker streaks and 

 imperfect irregular paler rings; and each of the dorsal 

 .shields i>- marked with a yellow snot, which 1 had nol ob- 



1 in any other species of this natural -onus. 

 "We have lately received from M. Bouoard two other 

 specimens of Bmydes from Mexico with their heads: and. 

 from the oolonring of their loads, there can bo no doubt 

 (though the shells look very unlike the typical specimens 

 of Rhinocltmmys mexiamd) that they belong to the same 



■ ; and in both of them the yellow spot in the centre 

 .if the areola is distinctly marked, being linear in the adult 

 and large and circular in the young. And the colouring of 

 the young explains the slightly variegated appearance of the 

 typical adult specimen first described. 



•• The young specimen is olive-brown above, and pale 

 yellow-brown, being darker in the central line of the ster- 

 num and over the sternal costal suture, below. The mar- 

 ginal shields are pale-spotted, and with a distinct pale, 

 Bemitransparenf acute outer margin. The vertebral shields 

 have two or three ovate concentric yellow rings, most 

 distinct on the second and third, and an oblong central 

 vellow spot, which is sometimes divided in half. The costal 

 shields have two yellow subcircular rings, and a large yel- 

 low spot on the middle of the large areola. The head of 

 this animal is coloured like that of the adult animal origi- 

 nally described and figured. The hinder costal shield and 

 the last vertebral one are small compared with the rest, and 

 are about equal in size. 



•' The other adult specimen has an entirely different ex- 

 ternal appearance from the typical specimen, so much so 

 that one would hardly believe that it belonged to the genus 

 fikinochmmys, which is usually so uniformly coloured and 

 generally so smooth. It is of a pale brownish yellow above 

 and below, being only rather darker on the sutures between 

 the. marginal and dorsal shields, between the sternal shields 

 and the marginal shields. The dorsal and marginal shields 

 are deeply concentrically grooved, and marked with elevated 

 ridges radiating from angles of the areola ; the lower shields 

 are similar, but not so uniformly grooved. Wken the dorsal 

 shields are very closely examined they are found to be va- 

 riegated with numerous dark-brown dots leaving indications 

 of concentric rings ; and these spots are more abundant in 

 the areola, which is marked with a distinct yellow streak or 

 oblong spot surrounded by a dark edge. The two hinder 

 costals are small, regular in their shape, and partly overlap 

 the small irregular last vertebral shield." — Gray, P. Z. S. 

 1-71, p. 296. 



Rhinoclemmys scabra (p. 30), add : — 



i;. scabra, Gray, I'. '/.. S. Is7t), p. 7i'i'. tig. 2 (head). 

 Clemmys punotularius, Strauch, Ghelon. Stud, p. 32. 



•• Head black above; a round white spot on each side of 

 the nose in front of upper edge of tho orbit, with a white 

 diverging streak on each side of the crown, commencing 

 even with the middle of the tipper part of tho orbit, and 

 extending to the temple, and with a small white spot on each 

 side of the occipital edge of the crown ; temples with a white 

 s! n isk from tho middle of the back edge of the orbit, another 

 from the lower part of tho back edge of the orbit, both 

 extending towards the ear, with two or three small spots be- 

 tween them ; a third, larger streak from the underside of the 

 orbit, which is forked behind, one branch ascending and the 

 other descending to the edge of the lower jaw, and with a 

 round spot behind the fork; the chin white ; the sides of the 

 neck with numerous black and white streaks ; the fore legs 

 black, "with a broad white streak down the middle of each 

 series of scales, extending along the upperside of each toe." 

 — Gra,j, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 722. 



Rhinoclemmys scabra, var. ?, Gray, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 723, 

 fig. 3 (head). 



" With all the marks of the preceding ; but the spots on 

 the front of the eye are smaller, and the two diverging 

 streaks are united together by a broad cross band on the 

 front of the crown, just level with the back edge of the eye ; 

 the spots on the occiput are larger and longer, forming short 

 streaks ; the marks on the temple are similar, and not quite 

 like the former. 



" There are two very young specimens of this variety in 

 spirits, which are quite alike as regards the bands on the 

 crown ; but they differ a little in the distribution of the 

 streaks on the sides of the temples."— Gray, P. Z. S. 1870, 

 p. 723. 



Rhinoclemmys Bellii (p. 31), add : — 

 Gray, Tortoises ire. tab. 29 & 30 (from life, with egg). 



Rhinoclemmys melanosterna (p. 31), add : — 



Gray, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 722, fig. 1 (head). 

 Clemmys melanosterna, StraucJi, Chelon. Stud. p. 32. 



" Head black ; crown deep black, with a narrow opaque 

 white streak from the nostrils over the eyes to the upper 

 part of the temples, a broad, pale, indistinct streak from 

 the middle of the orbit to the front of the tympanum, and 

 a small spot beneath it on the hind edge of the orbit."— 

 Gray, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 722. 



