1864.] MR. H. CARTER ON SPATALURA CARTERI. 135 
figured by Wagler in his Atlas to his N. Syst. Amph. (t. 4. f. 5-9) 
as Podocnemis expansa, and the skull of a full-grown but not 
adult specimen in plate 27. f. 1, in my ‘ Catalogue of Shield Reptiles 
in the British Museum ;’ but, unfortunately, in the latter figure the 
artist, in the otherwise very accurate figure, has scarcely made the 
two front ridges at a sufficient angle with the edge of the jaws and 
the opening of the internal nostrils. 
In the ‘Archives du Muséum’ (vol. vi. p. 242), M. Auguste Du- 
méril describes a third species of Podoenemis, under the name of P. 
lewyana, which was received from Bogota and Venezuela, which ap- 
pears by the figure (that is to say, if it is correct) to have an oblong, 
broad, transverse instead of a long frontal plate ; but, unfortunately, 
there are no details of the skull given. 
10. PeLrocerHa.us, Dum. et Bib. ; Gray, Cat. Shield Rept. 61. 
Head high, subeompressed. Nose produced, on a level with the 
forehead, rounded above, without any groove; nostril apical. Tem- 
poral muscles entirely covered with bone. 
Hab. Tropical America. 
PELTOCEPHALUS TRACAXA, Gray, /. c. 61 ; Spix, Test. Bras. t. 4,5. 
The skull of this genus bears some resemblance to that of the 
Cheloniade, in having a vaulted bony arch covering the temporal 
depressions, which is entirely formed of the parietal bones. It differs 
from the skull of the Marine Turtle in the vomer not being ossified, 
and hence the internal nostrils are not divided by a septum (see 
Owen, Cat. Osteol. p. 203). 
Both in Emydide and Chelydide there is a large-headed group ; 
and both the large-headed Terrapins are, at the same time, provided 
with a bony case for the temporal muscle. This may be to protect 
the head, which is too large to be contracted within the thorax ; 
but this is not usually the case, as the true small-headed genera of 
Chelydide have the temporal muscle more naked than any genus of 
Emydide, yet the animals never withdraw their head, and only 
shelter it by placing it when at rest under the sides of the shell. 
11. Description or THE New Lizarp (SPATALURA CARTERI, 
Gray), FRoM Lire*, By Henry Carter, Esq. 
“‘ Noticing that, in your specific description of Spatalura carteri 
(P. Z. S. 1863, p. 236), you have inserted in a parenthesis the words 
‘dry from spirits,’ I am inclined to think that you would be glad 
of more information on the colour-markings of this Lizard when 
fresh, which the following extract from my MS. Journal, written 
when the animal was caught, will, I hope, afford :— 
*** Ground cinereous, six pairs of white spots between the back of 
* Extracted from a letter to Dr. J. E. Gray. 
