LAND TORTOISE FROM AFRICA. 
161 
Description of a Species of Land 1 ortoise, ft om 
Africa. By Edward Hallowell, M. D. 
The genus Kjnixis, the most remarkable among 
the family of land tortoises, was established by Mr. 
Bell, in 1827. The most striking character in this 
genus consists in the mobility of the posterior por- 
tion of the carapace, which may be brought at will 
in contact with the sternum. This motion is not 
effected through the agency of a ligamentous hinge, 
as is the case in the Chelonians with a moveable 
sternum, but exists chiefly in the bony structure 
itself, which is nearly diaphanous, and, in the living 
animal, possesses a certain degree of elasticity. 
A living specimen of this genus w r as recently re- 
ceived from Liberia, by my friend, Dr. Blanding, 
to whom I am indebted for the opportunity of des- 
cribing such portions of it as remained unnoticed, 
and also of correcting an error respecting the line 
of flexion of the carapace, the position of which, m 
the dead animal, cannot well be determined. 
Kinixis. 
Generic Characters .— Carapace moveable posteri- 
orly ; anterior extremities with five toes, posterior 
with four only ; sternum immoveable. 
Kinixis denticulata, (Pis. VIII and IX.) 
Characters . — Carapace oblong ovate, rounded and 
vol. viii. — 1839. 21 
