56 EMYSTROOSTII. 



where they unite in the mesial hne; the thoracic and abdominal plates are both 

 quadrilateral, the former very narrow, the latter broad; the femoral plates are 

 shaped like the thoracic, but are larger; the sub-caudal plates are triangular, with 

 the posterior and external angles rounded. Of the supplemental plates, both the 

 axillary and the inguinal are quadrilateral; the former has its posterior and internal, 

 and the latter its anterior and internal angle elongated. 



The head is small, oval, and pointed. The eyes are large and prominent; the 

 pupil black, the iris dark gray, with a very narrow gilded border surrounding the 

 pupil; the lower lid is large and very movable; the nostrils are small and near each 

 other; the upper jaw is emarginate in front; the lower jaw, furnished with a tooth. 



The anterior extremities are covered in front with small scales; on their posterior 

 surface is a remarkable transverse row of four large scales; the fingers are five in 

 number, palmated, and furnished each with a nail; the three intermediate ones are 

 long and curved. The posterior extremities are long and flattened; the toes, five, 

 in number and broadly palmated; the four internal ones only are furnished with 

 nails. The tail is short, conical, and obtuse. 



Colours. The shell is greenish-black, with a lighter tinge of horn colour 

 in the central part of each lateral plate, from whence lines of the same colour 

 extend downwards and outwards. The marginal plates have each a slight dash, 

 and sometimes a hne of the same colour. The sternum is brownish-yellow, with 

 a large black blotch on each plate, and also on the outer margin of the thoracic 

 and abdominal plates; at each extremity of the inferior surface of the marginal 

 plates is a black spot, uniting with those of the adjoining plates. The spots on 

 the sternum are, however, liable to become blended, or altogether obsolete, perhaps 

 the eflfect of age. 



The head is black above, relieved with very obscure rays of brownish-yellow; 

 an oblong mark of the same colour begins at the back of the orbit of the eye, and 



