RECORDS. 313 



to the animal being nearly equal to that of the costal plates. 

 The nuchal scute is narrow ; the vertebral scutes not so wide as 

 the costal scutes. The anterior lip of the plastron is broad, 

 rounded in front, and slightly notched in the midline. The pos- 

 terior lobe has a broad, shallow notch. The pectoral scutes are 

 extremely narrow. 



The skull has the palate deeply excavated. The masticatory 

 surface on each side is traversed by a prominent, sharp and den- 

 tated ridge. The oral surface of the premaxillaries is excavated 

 for the reception of the tip of the lower jaw. The cutting bor- 

 der of the maxilla is coarsely dentated. 



The exposed portions of the hinder limbs and probably of the 

 fore limbs also, were protected by an armor of dermal bones, as 

 in some living species of the genus. The extremity of the tail 

 is expanded and covered on the upper surface by a plate com- 

 posed of several bones joined by sutures. The skin of the re- 

 gion around the tail was provided with many pebble-like dermal 

 bones. On the hinder part of each thigh there was a large bony 

 spur. All these bones were covered in life with a thick layer of 

 horn. This new species is named Tcstndo osborjiiana, in recog- 

 nition of the interest of Professor H. F. Osborn in the fossil 

 testudines. 



Remarks were made by the author of the paper on the geo- 

 graphical and geological distribution of the genus TcsUido and 

 its related genera, and on their probable origin. 



Professor Lloyd gave a general account of the vegetation of 

 the Island of Dominica, which the author visited during last 

 summer. 



The Island is of volcanic origin, remarkably broken in con- 

 tour, and very difficult for travel. The rainfall is excessive, but 

 with considerable differences in distribution. For example, on 

 the west coast there is a mean annual rainfall of 59.51 inches, 

 while 239.50 inches were reported for Middleham in 1901, an 

 amount not far from the mean. The eastern slopes of the island 

 are exposed to the trade winds, and the vegetation, from the 

 shore line to the top of the mountains, shows the effects in the 

 peculiar moulding. The temperatures are not excessive, but 

 the atmospheric humidity is great. 



