TESTUDINIDJE. 99 



Genus NICORIA, Gray 1 . 



Syn. Rhinoclemmys, Gray 2 . 

 Melanochelys, Gray 3 . 

 Chaibassia, Theobald 4 . 



Neural bones mostly hexagonal, with short postero-lateral surfaces, 

 or alternately tetragonal and octagonal. Plastron extensively united 

 to the carapace by suture, with short axillary and inguinal buttresses, 

 respectively just reaching the 1st and 5th costals ; entoplastral in- 

 tersected by the humero-pectoral sulcus ; xiphiplastrals notched. 

 Skull with a bony temporal arcade ; no oral ridge on palate ; pos- 

 terior nares on transverse line of orbits. Vertebral shields hexa- 

 gonal, and generally comparatively narrow. The digits may or may 

 not be webbed. 



A recent comparison by the writer of specimens of the forms 

 described as Chaibassia tricarinata and C. theobaldi 5 shows that 

 both are specifically the same, aud also that they are not generically 

 separable from Nicoria, of which they indicate a terrestrial species 

 holding the same position in the Oriental tricarinate group 6 as is 

 occupied by J¥. annulata in the Neotropical unicarinate group. It 

 also appears that the ligamentous joint found between the hypo- 

 plastrals and carapace of some specimens of JS T . tricarinata is a purely 

 individual character. 



Nicoria tricarinata (Blyth 7 ). 



Syn. Geoemyda tricarinata, Blyth 8 . 



Chaibassia tricarinata, Theobald 9 . 

 Chaibassia theobaldi, Anderson 10 . 



The type of Chaibassia. 



Carapace elongately oval, somewhat vaulted, with a sudden 

 descent from the vertex to the posterior margin, and tricarinate. 

 Yertebral shields as broad as or broader than long (with the 



1 Catalogue of Shield Eeptiles, pt. i. p. 17 (1855). 



2 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, vol. xii. p. 182 (1863). 



3 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, p. 187. 



4 Catalogue of Eeptiles of British India, p. 6 (1876). 



5 These specimens are in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, and will be described 

 by the writer in the ' Journ. As. Soc. Bengal.' 



6 See Boulenger, Catalogue of Chelonians, &c. p. 119. 



7 Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xxiv. p. 714 (1856).— Geoemyda. 



8 Log. cit. 9 Catalogue of Eeptiles of British India, p. 6 (1876). 

 10 Zoological Eesults of Yunan Expeditions, p. 718 (1878). 



n!2 



