162 
LAND TORTOISE FROM AFRICA. 
broader posteriorly; free margin strongly denti- 
culated ; sides carinated ; no nuchal plate ; supra 
caudal single. 
SYNONYMES. 
Testudo denticulata, (pullus,) Shaw, Gen. Zool., Vol. 
Ill, p. 59, pi. 13. 
Testudo erosa, Sclnveigg., Prodrom., Archiv. Koenig., 
tom. I, p. 331. 
Kinixis castanea, Bell, Linnsean Transact., Vol. XV, 
p. 392, pi. 17, fig. 1. 
Kinixis erosa, Gray, Synop. Reptil., p. 16. 
Kinixis erosa, Dum. et Bibr., tom. II, p. 165. 
Description. — The head is long, somewhat de- 
pressed ; the inferior margin of the upper jaw is 
slightly incurvated, presenting a sharp cutting 
edge ; the lower jaw is also sharp and cutting, and 
terminates anteriorly in a slight hook, concealed 
within the margin of the upper jaw, when the 
mouth is closed. The upper surface of the head is 
covered with small scales posteriorly, and larger 
plates in front ; the latter are six in number, viz. : 
one rostral, two fronto-nasal, two frontal, and one 
vertical plate ; the rostral plate is small and triangu- 
lar, its apex pointing backwards; the fronto-nasal 
are of moderate size, irregularly pentagonal, some- 
what prolonged posteriorly ; their inner margin on 
a line with the corresponding margins of the frontal 
plates ; the frontal are large and pentagular, slight- 
ly convex above, their anterior and internal margins 
forming a right angle ; the vertical plate is large 
and angular in front ; its lateral and posterior mar- 
gins are very irregular. Tympanum large; nos- 
