CHELONIA. 



709 



capped at its extremity by a small horny scale. The claws, five on the fore, and 

 four on the hind feet, are short, strong and stout. 



The upper surface and sides of the head are pale-yelloTvish, but in adults there 

 is a pale-pinkish tinge about the nostrils, eye and tympanum. In very old males, 

 where the skin about the nostrils has been rubbed off, the skin is very pink, and in 

 these individuals the warty skin about the eye and the skin of the tympanum are 

 also very pink. The skin of the neck and of the limbs is greyish, and the scales of 

 the limbs are yellow and black, the larger scales being chiefly yellow. The claws 

 are yellow. In the young, the head has a greenish tinge, the nostril is faintly pink, 

 but there is no trace of red around the eye nor on the tympanum. The iris is deep- 

 brown, almost black, and the eye is clear and lustrous. 



The shell has a greenish-yellow tinge in youth, the centres of the plates being 

 occupied with large black spots, which are, however, subject to great variation as to 

 size. In some instances, even in the young, they are broken up into small spots, 

 while in the adult male in which the shell loses all trace of green and is light 

 reddish-brown, they all but disappear, while some shells are nearly black above. 

 In the adult female, the greenish tinge remains, and the spots are more persistent. 

 The under surface is greenish-yellow in youth, yellowish in the adult female, 

 reddish- brown in the old male. The plates are covered with large black spots or 

 blotches, which are as variable in form and size as those on the carapace, but they 

 tend to disappear with age. 



Measurements of shell of Testudo elongata^ Blyth. 



Total length of carapace in straight line . 



„ „ along curve 



Breadth between second and third costals (callipers) 

 „ „ „ » over curve . 



Length of sternum 



Breadth of sternum at axilla .... 

 at groin .... 

 Depth through third vertebral .... 

 Length of tail measured to base above 



a 







9 



6 



12-50 



11-60 



9-10 



11-70 



16-30 



14-30 



11-50 



14-90 



7-90 



7-10 



6-20 



7-20 



11-60 



11-30 



1000 



11-30 



9-30 



8-60 



7-10 



8-50 



4-80 



4-00 



3-90 



4-40 



5-40 



4-70 



4-60 



4-11 



4-30 



3-11 



4-30 



3-90 



... 



5-00 



3-00 



4-11 



10-50 

 1211 

 6-50 

 9-10 

 7-50 

 3-60 

 4-50 

 3-80 

 3-20 



Prom these measurements it is evident that the specimens mentioned by Theobald^ 

 as adults were only adolescents, as measurements of his largest male along the curve 

 of the back gave only ir-75 compared with 16"-3, the corresponding measurement 

 of the largest specimen in the above table. 



The female skull is considerably smaller than that of the male. The zygomatic 

 and post-orbital arches are thin and narrow. The three dentations of the upper 

 jaw anteriorly are well developed. The alveolar surface of the jaw is marked 

 on its posterior half by a short median ridge, with a furrow on its inner side. 

 There is a shallow pit on the posterior aspect of the premaxillaries. The in- 

 ternal nasal fossa is long, and very broad and deep, and is marked by three sharp 



» Joum. Linn. Soc, Lond., 1868, vol. x, p. 7. 



