CHELONIA. 7 



East Indies, of an enormous size, and three feet, and upwards, in 

 length. One of them in particular has been called the 



Test, indica, Vosm.^ Schoepf. Tort. pi. xxii. (The India Tor- 

 toise.) Its shell is compressed in front, and its anterior edge is 

 turned up above the head. Its colour is a deep brown. 



Some of them are remarkable for the beautiful distribution of 

 their colours; such are, 



T. geometrica, L. ; Lacep. I, ix; Schoepf. x. (The Geometrica.) 

 A small Tortoise, each plate of whose shell is regularly orna- 

 mented with yellow lines, radiating from a disk of the same 

 colour. 



T. radiata, Shaw, Gen. Zool. Ill, pi. ii; and Daud. II, xxvi. 

 (The Coui.) A New Holland species, ornamented with nearly as 

 much regularity as the Geometrica, but which attains a much 

 larger size.(l) 



In some species, the Pyxis, Bell., the anterior part of the ster- 

 num is movable like that of the Box-Tortoises; others again, 

 the KiNixYs, Id., can move the posterior portion, (2) 



Emys, Brongn.(3) 



The fresh-water Tortoises have no other constant characters by 

 which they can be distinguished from the preceding ones, than the 

 greater separation of the toes, which are terminated by longer nails, 

 and the intervals occupied by membranes; even in this respect 

 there are shades of difference. They likewise have five nails be- 

 fore and four behind. The form of their feet renders their habits 

 more aquatic. Most of them feed on insects, small fishes, &c. 

 Their envelope is generally more flattened than that of the land 

 Tortoises. 



(1) Add: T.stellaia, Schoepf. XXV; — T. angulata, Schvveig; — T. areolata, Sch., 

 XXIII;— T. marginata, Sch. XII, 1, 2;— T. denticulata, Sch., XXVUI, l;—T. cafra, 

 Schweig; — T, signata, Schw.; — T. carbonaria, Spix, XVI; — T. Hercules, Id. XIV; 

 — T. cagado, Id.XVU;— 7'. tabulata, Sch., XIII;— T. sculpta, Spix, XV;— T. nigra, 

 Quoy and Gaym. Voy. de Freycin. Zool. XXXVII; — T. depressa, Cuv.; — T.bigut- 

 iata. Id.; — T. Carolina, Le Conte, &c.* 



(2) See the papei- of M. Bell., in the Lin. Trans. Vol. XV, part 2, p. 392; in 

 two of these Kinixys which we have seen living-, the edges of the joint in the 

 shield were worn away, or as if carious, and to such a degree as to induce a sus- 

 picion that there was something morbid in this conformation. 



^3) From e/^y?, Tortoise. 



* This is a mistake of our author; it is the '". Carolina, Gmel., the T. polyphemus 

 of others. £tn. Ed. 



