124 EMYS TROOSTII. 



they unite in the mesial line; the thoracic and abdominal plates are both quadri- 

 lateral, the former very narrow; the latter broad; the femoral are shaped like the 

 thoracic, but are larger; the sub-caudal plates are triangular, with their 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; and the lower jaw is 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 interme- 

 diate are long and curved. The posterior extremities are long and flattened; the 

 toes, five in nmiiber and broadly palmated; the four internal only are furnished 

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



Colours. The shell is dusky, tinged with green, with a lighter shade of horn 

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

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

 dash, and sometimes a line of the same colour. The sternum is brownish-yelloAv, 

 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, imiting with those of the adjoining plates. The 

 spots on the sternum are, however, liable to become blended, or altogether obso- 

 lete, perhaps the effect of age. 



The head is dusky 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 



