CHELONIA. 



781 



on the under surface, and in the pale coloured females are orange ; the angle of the 

 upper lips on the side being yellowish-orange, which does not occur in dark-coloured 

 males, but only to a very faint degree. The yellowish-orange, however, extends 

 behind the angle of the mouth involving the tympanum. The hyoid region has 

 a yellowish tinge, while the rest of the under surface of the neck is pinkish- white ; 

 the imder surface of the limbs is the same colour with a purplish blush. The 

 claws are yellow, dark olive at the base, or wholly yellow in pale varieties. The 

 iris is various shades of pale yellow, in some, nearly white. 



The skuU (Plate LXXVa, figs. 12 to 16,) is closely allied by its form to the 

 skiill of E. vittata, but its zygomatic arch is more bulging and the orbital portion 

 of the skull relatively shorter, the surface antero-posteriorly of the temporal fossa 

 being also shorter than in E. vittata. The shorter character of the skull as com- 

 pared with the skull of E. vittata also shows itself in the palatal and pterygoid 

 regions, which are shorter than in the foregoing species, while its posterior nares 

 are somewhat broader. The lower jaw is markedly distinct from that of E. vittata, 

 in its weaker symphysis, less lateral depth, and less divergent coronoids. The 

 skull of E. vittata is much less pointed than the skull of E. punctata, which has 

 an elongated facial portion even more pointed than in E. ceylonensis. Although 

 these differences exist between the skulls of E. scutata and E. vittata, they are 

 undoubtedly more nearly related to each other by their skulls than to any of the 

 other species. 



E. scutata, Peters. 



Total length of shell 

 Greatest breadth of shell . 



„ depth of shell 

 Total length of sternum . 

 Breadth at axilla .... 



„ at groin .... 

 Length of head and neck 

 Anterior angle of eye to tip of snout 

 Breadth of snout at tip 



„ ,, ,, base 



Distance between eyes, anterior angle 



„ „ „ posterior angle 



„ over tympanum 

 Posterior angle of eye to angle of gape 

 Base of tail to tip . 



This species is distinguished by the small size of its epiplastral plates and 

 the relatively great size of its entoplastral callosity and by its nearly triangular- 

 shaped xiphiplastra and by its comparatively short hyo- and hypoplastra and 

 small marginals. The epiplastra have the posterior contraction hardly, if at all, 

 marked, and they taper considerably to their posterior ends. The rami of the 

 entoplastron are about as divergent as in E. punctata, and the plate is almost 

 spherical, but broader generally in its posterior than its anterior half. The portion 

 of the hyoplastral plate lying between the external and the entoplastral process 



