7 
Carapace :■ — An imperfect lophial plate with part of a first 
peripheral, not figured, is unfortunately not of sufficient extent to 
show conclusively either the presence or the absence of a nuchal shield, 
but as the latter seems to be the more probable, it is assumed to be 
the case in the representation of the fore part of the carapace given 
on Plate VII. The surface of the anterior peripherals figured shows 
no system of marking whatever, though something of the kind 
has been introduced in Eig. A of Plate VII., but in a first right 
peripheral not figured the surface is obscurely diversified by shallow 
groovings which here and there form angular loops ; like many other 
fragments of the test of this species, the present one has a glazed 
semiporcellanous appearance. In a first left peripheral from a young 
animal the surface is shallowly but plainly impressed with loop-like 
groovings. Probably in still younger stages of growth these markings 
were yet more distinct and general. One of the lateral peripheral 
plates of the same side, probably the eighth, is rendered half 
natural size in Fig. D, Plate VII.; its dimensions show that for a fresh- 
water turtle the species attained to a large size, and the thickness of the 
plate (30mm. at its anterior edge) indicates that the test was unusually 
strong. The first pleural of the left side (Plate VII., Fig. C), viewed 
on its inner aspect, has the vertebral process and the convexity for 
the reception of the brachiosternal pier forming an uninterrupted 
curved ridge which separates a deep and continuous fossa behind it 
from the more level surface in front. Plastron : Plate VII., Fig. B, is a 
half-sized figure of the left brachiosternal minus its ascending pier ; 
it shows a flat plastron passing with a very low arch into the carapace. 
The surface of this plastron is entirely devoid of ornamental markings. 
The subject of Pig. B, Plate VIII., indicates a breadth of 290mm. for the 
whole plastron, but as its thickness is less than half that of the subject 
of Pig. C, we may fairly estimate the full breadth of this turtle at two 
English feet. The number of the pieces of plastron and carapace 
derived from this turtle exceeds that left by any of its contemporaries 
except Ghelodina uberrima. Log. : Darling Downs. 
Besides the turtles which have left sufficient remains for their 
specific determination, others were certainly in existence: There is, 
for example, in evidence a pleural plate ornamented after the manner 
of a Trionyx, but having the rib entirely sunk beneath the inner sur- 
face. There is, again, a pygal plate with a very peculiar rippling style 
of ornament ; but isolated traces such as these it is useless to describe 
further since their utmost value to history can only be for the present 
gen. et sp. ind. 
It may be observed that the large amount of material examined 
for the purposes of these notes has not supplied any ground for 
suspecting that any existing sjoecies was coeval with the forms now 
disclosed from the Darling Downs. The Chelonian division of the 
fauna accords with the others in declaring that since its remains were 
buried a total change has swept over the vertebral life of Australia. 
C. W. DE VIS, 
14th April, 1897. Curator. 
By Authority : Edmund Gkegoey, Government Printer, William street, Brisbane. 
