326 Dr. J. Anderson on Testudo Pliayrei. 



Now, after another examination of my materials, I repeat 

 the statement that my specimen is distinguished from T. gan- 

 geticus by the osseous jjlates of its sternum being considerably 

 less developed than in that species, and by the relatively finer 

 character of its sculpturing on both aspects. In T. Fhayrei 

 the abdominal expansions of the lateral plates of the sternum 

 of the adult are widely separated from each other by a broad 

 cartilaginous area almost as well marked as in Dr. Gray's 

 figure of the so-called Dogania^ and measuring 4" 3'" in its 

 greatest width. It is the presence of this large cartilaginous 

 space, combined with the less developed character of the 

 osseous portion of the sternum as compared with T. gangeticus^ 

 that led Theobald to state that the sternum presents a remark- 

 able difference in the development of the bo7\y plates as con- 

 trasted with T. gangeticus^ and that in general characters it 

 more nearly approaches to Dogania subplana. Dr. Gray has 

 become confused between the tubercular callous surfaces of the 

 sternal plates and the plates themselves of T. Pliayrei^ and 

 makes it appear as if Theobald described the former as resem- 

 bling those of T. suhplanus ; whereas Theobald's words are 

 distinctly these, that the development of the hony plates of 

 the sternum of T. Pliayrei approaches to T. suhplanus^ which 

 is the character of my specimen in respect of its sternal 

 osseous plates ; and he does not, as Dr. Gray states, mention 

 any small linear callosities as characteristic of his T. Phayrei. 

 Mr. Theobald, moreover, does not compare the tubercular cal- 

 lous surfaces to the small linear callosities of Dogania beyond 

 saying that in T. Phayrei i\ie, former are less developed and more 

 feebly sculptured than in any of its allies ; but as a matter of 

 fact he describes them as marginal, without giving any details 

 as to their distribution. How Dr. Gray reconciles this plain 

 statement of fact with his interpretation of it, I leave him to 

 explain. In my specimen the tubercular callous surfaces are 

 coextensive in their distribution with the antero-posteriorly 

 united lateral plates and the surface of the anals and of the 

 odd osseous plate ; but as Theobald has not given any detailed 

 account of the distribution of these sui-faces beyond what I 

 have quoted from his description, I hold that, under the cir- 

 cumstance that he recognized in my specimen T. Pliayrei, I 

 did not err in regarding it as an adult in which the marginal 

 granulations had become visible all over the surface of the 

 lateral, anal, and odd osseous plates. Dr. Gray confounds 

 *' linear " with " marginal," whereas the latter term embraces 

 the margins of an object; and when that object has an irregular 

 outline, the former term, " linear," cannot be applied to it. If 

 Dr. Gray means by " linear " the straight sides of a square, or 



