CHELONIA. 711 



The liver is very large, and, unlike the BatagtirsmiA their allies, is devoid of a 

 gall bladder. The bile duct is abou.t 3 inches long and opens into the intestine about 

 the same distance from the pylorus. At its origin in the liver it is somewhat dilated, 

 but it does not constitute a bladder. The kidneys are compact, and have some- 

 what the form of the mammalian gland. They are one inch and a quarter in 

 length by 0"-63 breadth at the hilum, by 0"-75 across the part anterior to that. 

 The allantoic bladder is of considerable size. The peritoneal canal is prolonged in 

 the female as far as the sides of the glans, where it terminates as a closed tube. 

 The glans clitoris consists of three transverse folds, placed one before the other, 

 but intimately united to each other. The proximal fold consists of three parts, two 

 lateral and one internal ; the first part is triangular and pointed, and the other is a 

 median ridge expanding into an oval extremity. The second fold is simple, while 

 the thkd forms a rather long pointed process. The oviduct, in an adult, measured 

 25 inches in length, and was much thickened and distended in its last three 

 inches. 



On one occasion, I was attracted by a peculiar cry to a spot where some of this 

 species were. There I found a solitary pair, and that the cry was produced by 

 the male, evidently under great sexual excitement, as his mouth was open, a rare 

 circumstance in a Okelouian, except in the act of eating, and his tongue was protrud- 

 ing. He was holding on to the back of the female with his front legs, and, with 

 outstretched neck, was trying to lay hold of her head. I watched them for some 

 time, and observed that he occasionally came to the ground and violently butted his 

 companion from behind by the front part of his shell, rushing at her, and rapidly 

 withdrawing his head at each stroke. This cu.rious scene went on for some time, 

 when I at last removed them, and found that the under surface of the posterior 

 portion of both shells, and the ground beneath them, was smeared with a clear 

 gelatinous fluid. 



Hutton, in his interesting account of T. actinodes, refers to this habit which 

 these tortoises have of butting, but he did not connect it with the sexual act. He, 

 however, plausibly, but improbably,' suggests that the hollow nature of the plastron 

 of the male may be a sexual differentiation to permit of the successful accomplish- 

 ment of the sexual act by enabling the male to retain his hold on the female during 

 the act, but in females referable to T. platynota, Blyth, the plastron is some- 

 what concave. 



A number of this species which I let loose in a garden eat freely of plantains, 

 but, on one occasion, I ol)served one specimen, a female, eating greedily of dead 

 prawns and fish which had been procured to feed Trionyces. They were generally 

 restless at night, but whether they are noctm-nal in their natural state, I do not 

 know. 



This species is active in its movements, and the males do not evince any 

 timidity whatever ; the females generally withdraw themselves at once into then- 

 shells when handled, in this contrasting with the confiding male, which will eat from 

 the one hand, while it is held in the other. 



