742 



EEPTILIA. 



ing parts is yellowish, witli a faint bluish tinge. The upper surface of the shell 

 is a pale olive-brown, almost olive- grey, with a broad black line along the verte- 

 bral ridge and another along the upper margin of the costals, the margin of the 

 shell being also black. The under surface is yellowish, with a greenish hue. The 

 iris is a very pale pink, with an inner bright golden margin, but there is no spot. 

 The claws are brownish at the base and yellowish horny at the tips. 



I have not observed any diiference in colouring between the males and females. 



This species does not appear to attain to the size of the other species of Batagur, 

 the largest male and female I have observed measuring as follows : — 



Meamtrements of B. duvaucelli, J>. ^ H. 



Length of carapace in straight line 



„ of plastron in „ „ 



Greatest breadth across shell 

 Axillary breadth 

 Inguinal „ ... 



Depth through second vertebral 



All the males that I have observed have been small, and distinguishable from 

 the females by the great length of their tails, dependent, as in other Batagurs, not on 

 a variation in the number of the vertebrae, but in the elongation of the bodies of the 

 vertebrae, the tail performing in them the important function of making room for, 

 and supporting, the external organ of generation. Whether they are persistently 

 smaller than the females, I am not in a position to say, although the evidence would 

 seem to point in the direction of their being always smaller, as the males of the sub- 

 generic form FangsJiura certainly are ; but that the males of this large Batagur 

 have the same disproportionate size to the females as prevails among the Pangshures, 

 I have not sufficient materials to determine. So little is known regarding the laws 

 which regulate the growth of the shell of the Chelonia, it would be premature to 

 hazard any decided opinion as to whether or not the closure of the costal and 

 other fontaneUes indicates cessation of growth. I am disposed to think that growth 

 does not cease with closure of the fontaneUes. 



Dr. Giay has elevated this form to generic rank imder the name Dhongoka, 

 distinguishing it from his new genus Kachuga by a single dermic character, viz., 

 the elongated and contracted form of the first vertebral, which shield is nearly 

 square in Kachuga, but there is not a single feature in the internal anatomy, nor 

 in the structure of the skull of Batagur lineata (which may be taken as a typical 

 example of that author's genus Kachuga), by which to separate it genericaUy from 

 the very closely allied species Batagur duvaucelli. Dr. Gray retains the genus 

 Batagur for the single species, B. basha, which is distinguished by having four 

 claws on both fore and hind feet, and by the osseous ridges of the palate and 

 mandible being more strongly developed than in either B. lineata or B. duvaucelli. 

 But it would seem that these skuU differences only merit sub-generic importance, 

 for the skuU of B. lineata shows distinct indications of the second and hinder 



