768 EEPTILIA. 



In tlie general form of the skull, the so-called B. {Kardella) thurgi is very 

 closely approached by B. {Morenia) ocellata and B. (M.) petersi, but the different 

 extent to which the axillary and inguinal septa of the shells of Kardella and 

 Morenia are developed is so great, that it appears to me that the two should have 

 each sub-generic rank to Batagur. 



"When the mandible of Hardella is compared with the mandible of B. lineata, 

 B. haska, B. iravadica, and B. trivittata, it will be observed that in these species it 

 is characterised by a well developed process, which even projects above the upturned 

 posterior extremity of the serrated alveolar border of the upper jaw, and at a consid- 

 erable altitude above the alveolar line of the lower jaw. In J5. thurgi, and in 

 B. ocellata and B. petersi, there is no upturning of the alveolar line of the upper 

 jaw, and the so-called coronoid process does not exist. The lower jaw, also, of 

 B. thurgi is a magnified repetition of the jaws of the two species B. ocellata and 

 B. peter si, and this is very well seen when the skull of an adult B. ocellata is com- 

 pared with the small male skull of B. thurgi. In such a comparison, the skulls are so 

 similar, that the generic identity of the two, apart from other considerations, would 

 be probably maintained. There is the same shaped palatine region with a corre- 

 sponding number of ridges and depressions, and similarly formed external nares, 

 only in Morenia the palatine foramen is more posterior and placed out of the nares 

 than in Rardella ; but there is also a similar mandible, flattened, denticulated con- 

 tinuously and with an expanded posterior surface. The viscera also, in both the sub- 

 generic forms, are much alike. 



In the female, there are 21 caudal vertebrae. The first has an outwardly 

 directed, well-marked transverse process which disappears in the second and third, 

 but in the fourth it is strongly developed and curved forwards, this forward curve 

 existing in a less degree in the two succeeding vertebrae, in which the process is 

 more strongly developed, but it decreases in strength in the seventh with a back- 

 ward direction, and gradually decreases in size to the seventeenth vertebra, disappear- 

 ing on the eighteenth. The shell has the well-marked septa of Batagur baska and 

 B. lineata. 



The tongue is small, triangular, and marked by a longitudinal furrow, about 

 two inches behind the laryngeal orifice ; the CBsophagus is covered with more or 

 less longitudinal lines of rather large flattened processes of the mucous membrane, 

 and behind this again for about three inches, these structures become lengthened 

 into conical papillae ^"'1\ in length, simulating, to a certain extent, the remark- 

 able mucous stylet-like appendages of the CEsophagus of Chelonia virgata. The 

 remainder of the oesophagus is thrown into numerous sharp longitudinal folds 

 which are continuous with the folds of the stomach, which disappear at the bend 

 where the viscus becomes transverse, reappearing again about four inches from the 

 pylorus; the interspace free of folds being sacculated and with smooth walls. 

 The left half of the stomach literally lies in a groove of the liver, between the 

 ventral and dorsal lobes, the longitudinal portion being wholly hidden by the 

 free margin of the ventral lobe. With the exception of the slight distension 



