CHELONIA. 



737 



B. trimttata, and its sides are straighter, but the form of the plates is much the 

 same in both species. 



The adult female is dark uniform brown above and below, with no black bands 

 on the back, as in B. trivittata, but the brown on the under surface is made up as 

 it were of dark rods of colour, lying closely side by side on a brown back-ground, 

 and radiating more or less from the position of the areolae of the plates. In the 

 adolescent (PI. Ixix), the plastron is almost wholly yellow, only a faint brown 

 radiation presenting itseK from the areolae of the gulars, postgulars and pectorals. 



The head is olive, also the internal surface of the limbs and the tail. The 

 homy sheaths of the jaws are yellowish and the under surface of the neck ; the 

 greater part of the upper surface of the neck being brownish. The iris is brown 

 and the claws yellow. The plates on the limbs are distributed much in the same 

 way as in other species of Batagur. 



The largest female measured is No. 1 of the following table : — 



Length of carapace in straight Hue 

 „ of plastron „ „ 



Axillary breadth of plastron 



Inguinal „ „ . . 



Greatest depth of shell 



„ breadth of shell over curve 



Length of caudal vertebrae 







No. 1. 



No. 2. 





? 



? 

 Juv. 





17-20 



8-10 







15-90 



7-40 







6-60 



2-80 







6-75 



3-20 







7-90 



3-50 







15-70 



8-52 







5-60 



0-00 



No. 3. 

 6 

 Juv. 



7-15 

 6-36 

 2-65 

 2-63 

 3-40 

 7-50 

 O'OO 



Juv. ? Shell oval, highly arched, denticulated posteriorly, and costals rather flat. 

 Dorsal ridge well developed from the first vertebral to the caudals, least marked 

 on the first vertebral. Marginals expanded, not reverted. Nuchal broad posteriorly, 

 anteriorly pointed, large and triangular. Eorm of the vertebrals much as in _B. trivit- 

 tata, but the fourth vertebral shorter. The lateral margins of the first vertebral 

 are first strongly convergent for a short way from the marginals, and then divergent, 

 the anterior margin slightly convex and the posterior margin concave, the length 

 of the shield being sKghtly exceeded by its breadth. The second vertebral has 

 its lateral margins sKghtly concave behind its articulation with the first costal. 

 It is broader than long, and its anterior border is convex, and its posterior border 

 concave. The third shield is hexagonal, the sutures with the second and thkd cos- 

 tals being somewhat sinuous, but of equal length. The anterior border is slightly 

 concave and the posterior border convex. This shield is nearly twice as broad as 

 long. The fom-th vertebral is an elongated hexagon, its greatest breadth is between 

 the third and fourth costal sutures, and the shield is nearly as broad as long. This 

 plate has much the same form as in B. lineata, and its third costal suture is the 

 longest. The fifth has the general form of this shield in Batagur. The vertebral 

 ridge rises into a kind of nodosity at the posterior margins of the second, third and 

 fourth vertebrals. The anterior portion of the plastron is rather rounded ; broader 

 than the post-inguinal portion. The lateral ridge is confined to the posterior portion 

 of the pectorals and abdominals. Anal notch feeble, open ; gulars triangular, a little 



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