714 



EEPTILIA. 



In botli male and female, tlie areolar nodosities are well indicated, but in the 

 costals, the areolae do not rise up into eminences embracing the rest of the 

 plate, as generally occurs in T. actinodes, and on the under surface the areolae are 

 not perceptible, but as this sometimes occurs in Ceylon land tortoises referable to 

 T. actinodes, or to a variety of that species, much importance cannot be attached 

 to this character. 



The head has much the general form as in T. actinodes, and the jaws are 

 crenated in the same way and with tlu-ee feeble teeth not so marked as in 

 T. elongata. The feet are smaller than in T. elongata, and are about the same 

 relative size as in T. actinodes, but the fore Hmb is covered with fewer and more 

 rounded scales. In T. actinodes many of the larger scales are leaf-shaped, while 

 in T. platynota they are all rounded.' The rounded scales on the soles of T. platy- 

 nota are larger than in T. actinodes, but the heel wants the sharp scales that mark 

 it in T. actinodes. The nails of the fore feet of T. platynota are shorter and 

 broader than in T. actinodes, while those on the hind feet of the latter are scarcely 

 so large and broad. The large conical scales, on the posterior portion of the thigh, 

 are very much smaller than in T. actinodes, and not at all prominent as in that 

 species. The head is covered generally by a large vertical plate and by two pairs 

 of large plates in front of it, one before the other, separated in the mesial line by a 

 small intercalated plate, but the upper sm'f ace of the head of T. actinodes is covered 

 rather irregularly with largish plates, and the tympanum is smaller than in the 

 latter species. 



The skull is shorter and broader than the skull of T. actinodes, and anteriorly 

 there is greater breadth between the inner margin of the alveolar plates of the 

 skidl than in T. actinodes, and hence the alveolar plates are more narrowed ante- 

 riorly. The vomerine ridge is prolonged further backward in the skull of T. platy- 

 nota, and the pterygoid region is not so concave as in T. actinodes, and is trans- 

 versely narrower. The tymj)anic orifice is smaller, and the squamous region is not 

 so deep as in T. actinodes, and the basi-occipital region is considerably broader 

 in T. platynota compared with T. actinodes. The supra-ocular region of the skull 

 is broad as in the last mentioned species, but shorter and not so produced forwards 

 over the nostrils. The temporal fossa, at its greatest breadth, is considerably broader 

 than in T. actinodes. The symphysis of the lower jaw is narrower than in the 



^ In Ceylon examples of T. actinodes, the scales are round in young animals. 



