Zoology.'] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Reptiles- 



Plates 82 and 83. 



CHELYMYS MACQUARIA (Cuv. sp.). 



The Murray Tortoise. 



[Genus CHELYMYS- (Gray). (Sub-kingd. Vertebrata. Class Reptilia. Section Cata- 

 phracta. Order Chelonia. Sub-ord. Pleuroderes. Earn. Chelydidae. Sub-fam. Hydraspidinse.) 



Gen. Char. — Carapace moderately convex, solid, ovate, wide behind, side edges slightly 

 turned up ; nuchal shield distinct ; internal cavity contracted in front to half the width of the 

 outer opening by two internal diverging septa ; vertebrae sharply keeled within ; sternum solid, 

 narrow, anterior and posterior ends bent slightly upwards, with broad sides reflected upwards at 

 an obtuse angle, and a wide angular notch behind between the anal plates ; intergular plate 

 marginal. Head moderate, flat, covered by a thin, smooth skin, reticulated so as to form small 

 irregular plates on the temples ; no zygomatic arch ; ear-drum large, round ; jaws naked, horny, 

 strong ; neck long, with a granular skin ; two small conical barbels under the chin. Feet with 

 wide web between the toes ; claws long, acute, five on the anterior feet, four on the posterior 

 feet, the hind posterior toe having no claw. Australia.] 



Description. — Shell ovate, moderately convex, with a slight longitudinal, very 

 narrow sulcus along' the middle of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th vertebral shields,* interrupted 

 at their edges ; 1st vertebral plate equal to the 5th, but shorter than the others, 

 large, four-sided, narrowed and concave behind, touching the nuchal, first marginal, 

 and half of second marginal plates, in front, outer sides slightly convex ; 2nd, 3rd and 

 4th obscurely hexagonal, with waving lateral margins, the 2nd plate longest ; 5th plate 

 widest behind, where it touches the caudal and half the last lateral plate on each side; 

 nuchal plate narrow, oblong, one-third longer than wide; all the other marginal 

 plates gradually widening towards the posterior end from the 4th, which is smallest, 

 very slightly inclined upwards, forming a shallow concavity outside the convexity of 

 the sides of the carapace behind the anterior limbs to the caudal plates, which are 

 nearly on a level with the nuchal one, all the intervening lateral plates being a 

 little below their level ; the five posterior ones with a slight notch in the middle of 

 each, and sometimes at the suture along the edge. Vertebral, costal, and marginal 

 plates rugged, with narrow, irregularly reticulating, vermiform, impressed grooves, 

 chiefly longitudinal in direction. Plastron or sternum narrow, semi-oval, and wider 

 in front than behind, the sides sloping upwards at an obtuse angle ; gular plates 

 triangular, smaller than the intergular plate which separates them on the margin. 

 Keticulation of the skin forming polygonal plate-like spaces on the temples; top of 

 the head covered with thin smooth skin; jaws naked; skin of anterior legs with the 

 granules between the reticulations of the skin larger and more plate-like than on the 

 neck. A row of long, arched, narrow, transverse scales on the anterior edge of the 

 leg, and a row of seven or eight not transversely elongated on the posterior edge. 

 Posterior limb with more regularly-plated granulation than the anterior, with a 

 distinct row of 6 or 8 large transversely enlongated plates on the posterior margin. 

 Color: — The whole of the upper surface dark brownish-olive; whole of the under 

 surface dull brownish and greenish yellow, irregularly netted with impressed 

 grooves, but without dark margins or spots. Skin of neck moderately granular, 

 reticulated, of a blackish-olive tint, a pale-yellow streak extending from the edges 

 of the jaws across the lower edge of the ear a variable distance along each side of 

 the neck. 



* The diagrams on Plate 83, figures 2 and 3, identify the different shields and plates referred to. 



