74 



TORTOISES AND TURTLES. 



Batagurs. 



humeral with the pectoral shields. The painted terrapin of Eastern North America, 

 which attains a length of 6 inches, and has a much depressed shell, takes its name 

 from its brilliant coloration. Thus, the carapace is olive or blackish, with yellow 

 lines bordering the shields, and its marginal shields red, with black concentric or 

 crescentic markings ; while the plastron is yellow, sometimes with small streaks 

 of black on the middle line, and the bridge red, with black markings. The soft 

 parts have a brown or blackish ground-colour, with lighter bands, which are yellow 

 on the head and red elsewhere. 



Eyed and Chinese The eyed terrapin (Morenia ocellata), from Burma, together with 

 Terrapins. an allied species from Bengal, constitute a genus distinguished from 

 the preceding by the aperture of the posterior nostrils opening behind the line of 

 the eyes. The typical species, in which the shell measures nearly 9 inches in 

 length, takes its name from the eye-like black spots ringed with yellow which 

 adorn each shield of the back portion of the carapace. On the other hand, the 

 Chinese terrapin (Ocadia sinensis), which is the sole existing representative of its 

 genus, differs from Chrysemys in having the entoplastron intersected by the groove 

 formed by the junction between the pectoral and humeral shields. The genus is 

 of special interest as being represented by extinct species in the upper Eocene 

 strata of the south of England and the Continent. 



The remaining members of the family, which are arranged under 

 four genera, and may be collectively known as batagurs, are exclus- 

 ively confined to India, Burma, and the Malayan region. They comprise the 



largest fresh-water representatives of the 

 family, and are readily characterised by 

 the great development of the vertical bony 

 buttresses connecting the carapace with 

 the plastron, which project as walls within 

 the shell, so as partially to divide it into 

 compartments. Of the four genera, 

 Cachuga, which is represented by seven 

 species from India and Burma, is readily 

 recognised by the great elongation of the 

 fourth vertebral horny shield of the 

 carapace, which extends over four or five 

 of the underlying neural bones. The 

 smaller members, such as Smith's batagur 

 (C. smithi), and the black - and - yellow 

 batagur (G. tectum), of the Ganges and 

 Indus, are characterised by the fourth 

 vertebral shield terminating in front in a 

 narrow point. Whereas the former of 

 these has a depressed and feebly keeled 

 shell, the latter, especially when young, has 

 the carapace much vaulted, and the third 

 vertebral shield produced behind into a conical elevation forming the highest part 

 of the shell. The name of black-and-yellow batagur is derived from the irregular 



UPPER SURFACE OF CARAPACE OF SMITH'S 



batagur (J nat. size). 



