TESTUDO VERROXII. 



posteriorly pointed ; upper aspect convex, under slightly arched towards the 

 sides, flat in the middle ; upper surface somewhat irregular, owing to the 

 slight gibbosity of each plate ; areolae nearly flat ; surface of plates marked 

 with polygonal grooves ; marginal plates more inclined to a horizontal direc- 

 tion than the costal ones, by which inclination an obtuse angle is formed by 

 the two, and an appearance produced as if the first-named formed a sort of 

 edging or cornice to the latter. First dorsal plate five-sided, anteriorly 

 pointed ; second, indistinctly seven-sided ; third, fourth, and fifth, six-sided, 

 the length of the sides in each plate different ; first costal plate six-sided, the 

 remainder irregularly five-sided ; second marginal plate somewhat trian- 

 gular, the remainder more or less quadrangular ; nuchal plate short, rather 

 broad, anteriorly emarginate, superiorly grooved along the centre, the sides, 

 transversely ribbed. Shell below bifid anteriorly and posteriorly ; gular 

 plates sub-triangular ; humeral, abdominal, and anal ones nearly square ; 

 pectoral and femoral ones quadrangular, the outer sides much wider than 

 the inner ones. Upper mandible slightly hooked at the point, and its cutting 

 edges finely dentated ; lower with the point curved upwards. Head and 

 neck covered with small scales ; fore-legs anteriorly coated with large flat 

 imbricate pear-shaped scales, elsewhere by irregularly shaped smaller ones ; 

 hinder legs and tail covered with small scales, and at the base of the latter, 

 near the outer and hinder angle of each anal plate, there are two pointed 

 horny tubercles, one behind the other. Claws short, straight, pointed, and 

 slightly depressed. 



Inches. Lines. 



Length of the shell above 3 8 



below 3 4 



DIMENSIONS. 



Inches. Lines, 

 Breadth of the shell across the abdominal 



plates 3 



Height of the shell 2 4 



Nothing is known of the female. 



The position of the marginal in relation to the costal plates furnish us with a character by 

 which this species is at once to be distinguished from Testudo geometrica and T. semiserrata. 

 From Testudo tentoria, Bell, which has also the marginal plates disposed at an angle with the 

 costal ones, it is to be distinguished by the greater flatness of its dorsal and costal plates, the 

 greater size and different characters of its nuchal plate, by the figure of the shell, which in 

 T. tentoria is oval, by the thinness of the large scales of the fore-legs, and other less conspicu- 

 ous peculiarities. 



Inhabits the districts of South Africa, near the sources of the Garriep or Orange River. 



