1853.] Notices and Descriptions of various Reptiles. 639 



Notices and Descriptions of various Reptiles, new or little known. — 



By E. Bltth. 



Testudo Phatret, nobis. Great Burmese land Tortoise. Cara- 

 pax smooth, as in T. radiata and T. angulata, but much natter ; 

 oblong, subquadrate, its free marginal plates reverted and moderately 

 serrate. Nuchal plate broader than long. Caudal plate double. 

 Gular plates longer than broad, moderately notched : anal broader 

 than long, and deeply notched. Beak unemarginate. Fore-limbs 

 covered with very long and thick imbricated scales, much as in a 

 Pangolin ; the claws elongate, strong and thick : similar great 

 elongate scales at the heel ; and a group of five principal obtuse 

 spines on either side of the tail, the medial of them remarkably 

 strong and thick. Two or more smaller spines or thick elongate 

 scales above the tail. Colour wholly black, or mingled more or less 

 with buff-yellow. In the young, the scales are probably of the 

 latter hue, with gradually increasing black centres. Limbs deep 

 brown ; some of the claws yellow in some specimens : the head and 

 neck paler brown, strongly tinged with yellow. Our largest speci- 

 men is 20 in. long in a straight line, or 22| in. measured over the 

 curve of the carapax, from front of nuchal plate to middle of caudal 

 notch : greatest breadth 14^ in. or 20|- in. following the curve, from 

 one obtuse lateral angle to the other. Height 1| in. Head to 

 occiput 4^ in. The shell of this individual is wholly black, with 

 merely a few slight indications of the ochreous-yellow colouring : 

 all the claws deep brown. Another, rather smaller, has the appear- 

 ance of great age, with most of the plates of its carapax more or 

 less completely united, so that the form of some cannot be traced. 

 Colour irregularly mingled black and dull buff-yellow ; the plastron 

 chiefly black ; and several of the claws are yellow wholly or in part. 

 Hab. Arakan ; Tenasserim Provinces. Specimens presented by 

 Capt. Phayre. 



T. elongata, nobis. Small Burmese land Tortoise. Carapax 

 elongate, becoming more so and quite smooth in adults, wherein it 

 approaches to a semi-cylindrical form ; flattish, sub-even, the three 

 medial vertebral plates lying almost in a plane, and the free marginals 



