396 Mr. Bell on t'uo nen- Genera of Land Tortoises. 



Description. Shell gibbous, ovate, emarginate before, slightly 

 expanded over the hinder feet. Scuta striated, black, with 

 a few broad 5-ellow radiations, which are narrower at the 

 area, increasing in breadth towards the circumference ; in 

 manj' of them a dentated yellow margin. The first vertebral 

 scutum pentagonal, broader than it is long, the lateral mar- 

 gins parallel, anteriorly truncate ; the second, third, and 

 fourth hexagonal ; the fifth irregularly quadrilateral : the 

 first costal scutum trapezoidal, very irregular; the second 

 and third pentagonal ; the fourth quadrate : jnarginal scuta 

 24, consisting of 11 pairs, and an anterior and posterior 

 sinole one : the anterior small, linear, emarginate at the 

 apex ; the posterior very broad, quadrate, intiexed. Ster- 

 num of an uniform yellow colour, nearly as long as the 

 upper shell, and very broad ; the anterior lobe, which is 

 covered by the gular* and humeral scuta, slightly emargi- 

 nate, very moveable, connected with the body of the ster- 

 num by a ligament, and capable of entirely closing the 

 anterior opening of the shell ; when closed, the margin is 

 considerably within that of the upper shell : the abdominal 

 portion of the sternum very large ; the sterno-costal suture 

 extending from the fourth to the seventh pairs of marginal 

 scuta inclusive ; the anterior margin of the pectoral scuta 

 overlapping the posterior margin of the humeral, so as to 

 conceal the joint : the posterior lobe of the sternu?n broad 



* In order to avoid unnecessary repetition, and to render descriptions of these 

 animals more intelligible by a fixed nomenclature, I have applied to the six pairs of 

 sternal scuta the following names, expressive of their relative situation with regard to 

 the different parts of the animal. The first pair I have termed gular, the second hu- 

 meral, the third pectoral, the fourth abdominal, the ûhh femoral, the sixth caudal. Of 

 the two pairs of scuta situated at the junction of the sternum with the upper shell, — I 

 have assigned to the anterior the name of post-humeral, and to the posterior that of 

 ante-femoral. 



and 



