20 



b. Lydc'lvker— ^ Sketdi of ilie 



[No. 1, 



also been obtained from the Iravvadi and the Narbada, but their speci- 

 fic determination is difficult. Of the genus Gharialift {Lejotorhynclius), 

 one Siwalik species has been identified with tlie living G. gangeticus ; a 

 gharial from the Manchhiirs of Sind also belongs to this species. Ano- 

 ther long-jawed vSiwalik crocodile with slender teeth has been named 

 Glii/riitlis leptodns ; and another with much shorter jaws and teeth, G. 

 crnssidens ; tlie latter has been obtained from the Siwaliks and from 

 Sind. 



Of the order Lacertilia, only one Siwalik representative is known, be- 

 longing to the genus Varanus, and named by Falconer V. sivalensis.* 

 This determination was made on the evidence of a distal extremity of the 

 humerus, now in the British Museum. 



The Ophidia are only known by some vertebras, much like those of the 

 genus Pytlion, obtained from the Siwaliks of the Punjab and Sind : these 

 vertebrae have not yet been generically determined. 



The Chelonia are known by a considerable number of Siwalik, and two 

 Narbada, species. Of the land tortoises, we have, firstly, the gigantic extinct 

 species, Golossoclielys atlas of Falconer and Cautley, from the Siwaliks and the 

 Irawadi. Falconer says that the fossil species is mainly distinguished from 

 the living genus Testudo by the thickening of the anterior (episternal) por- 

 tion of the plastron ; this character was considered to be only of subgeneric 

 value, and 1 think the species might well be named Testudo atlas. The length 

 of the carapace, according to Falconer's restoration, is 12 feet 3 inches, 

 and of the entire animal, with the head and tail extended, 22 feet. 

 In addition to Golossoclielys, there is good evidence of the former existence 

 of other gigantic tortoises in the Siwalik period. In the Indian Museum, 

 there are several specimens of the ankylosed episternals of tortoises belong- 

 ing to two distinct species. These bones are as thick, but not so elongated, 

 as the episternals of Golossoclielys ; they have diverging but shorter extre- 

 mities than in tlie latter genus. The animals to which these bones belonged 

 must have been, I tliink, two-thirds as large as Golossoclielys, and may not 

 improbably have belonged to Testudo. A broken episternal indicates a 

 third, but smaHer species. A fourth species is indicated by three episternals, 

 ■which are not bifurcated at their free extremities : these bones indicate 

 a smaller animal The episternal bones, from their solidity, seem more 

 frequently preserved than any others. A single carapace of a small 

 tortoise in the Indian Museum, fron"i the Siwaliks, seems to belong 

 to the genus Testudo. Among the hard-shelled emydine tortoises, 

 we have, from the Siwaliks, a species of Bellia described by Mr. 



* Pal, Mem. Vol. I, pi. XXXII, figs. 4-7. 



