780 REPTILIA. 



breadth considerably exceeds the length of a xiphiplastron, and even the conjoint 

 breadth of two. The conjoint hyoplastron and hypoplastron have a rounded 

 internal margin, the entoplastral border being marked by a deep notch. These 

 elements are separated by an interval of only one line from the entoplastron, 

 internal to the notch. The xiphiplastra form a suture in the middle line, the 

 internal being the largest of all the margins, the external border being five-sixth of 

 its length. The external borders are anteriorly divergent, so that the plates are 

 broad anteriorly and narrow posteriorly. The anterior margin is slightly convex 

 and notched at its outer angle ; the posterior equals one-third or so of the 

 external border, and it forms an obliqtie angle with its fellow, varying in degree. 

 The umbilical interspace, and the area around the entoplastron are much more 

 restricted in this than in any of the other species. 



In the female the epiplastra are narrower and more elongated than in the male, 

 the entoplastron is considerably smaller and more rounded, and the abdominals are 

 proportionally smaller and separated by a wide interval. The xij)hiplastra also are 

 relatively smaller, and their anterior margins are transverse and further apart 

 from the abdominals. These characters are persistent at aU ages. 



In youth (specimens 6"' 65) the entoplastron of the male is round, while that of 

 some females is transversely oval. The xiphiplastra in the male are in apposition in 

 the middle line, but their anterior margins are divergent, whereas in these females 

 they are separated, and both anterior and posterior margins are divergent. 



From the base of the snout to the vertex, behind the eyes, appears to be 

 slightly more arched in the males than in the females. The head is moderately 

 broad behind the vertex, being fiat or slightly concave, and has much the same 

 breadth as in E. vittata, Peters. The upper lip is full and pendulous. The eye is 

 moderately large, considerably smaller than the tympanic area. The first claw 

 of both the fore and hind foot is relatively stronger than in the Gangetic species, 

 E. punctata, Gray. The toes are not so broadly webbed as in the last mentioned 

 form, and in E. vittata and E. granosa (Madras) ; the web between the fourth and 

 fifth toes of the hind foot, and the membrane along the base of the fifth toe, 

 are especially narrow. The skin on the snout and upper surface of the head 

 between the eyes in the males is covered with very fine granules. 



The general colour of the upper sm^face of the shell in the adults is a 

 dark oUve-brown with an obscure black reticulation, or spotted ; the cartilaginous 

 marginal surface being a paler brown. The spots are occasionally reduced to 

 irregular rings, while in others they form dark reticulations all over the shell. 

 The stermmi is yellowish -white, the callosities and marginals being pale fleshy. 

 The upper surface of the head and neck and limbs, and under surface of feet are 

 paler oUve-brown than the shell, and, in adult females, the head and neck are 

 occasionally yellowish-olive. An obscure variable dark longitudinal band or spot 

 between the eyes; a dark line from the posterior margin of the eye over the 

 tympanum. Two obscure black spots on the vertex, occasionally absent, and some 

 smaller spots on the beginning of the neck. The lips are more or less yellowish 



