STERNOTHERUS SINUATUS. — Smith. 
Reptilia. — Plate I. (Male.) 
S. capite pallide stramineo-brunneo marmorato ; capitis lateribus viridi-flavis ; collo livido-brunneo 
pedibus stramineis maculis brunneis variegatis ; testa supra viridi-brunnea, subtus aurantia, rubri- 
brunneo marginata ; unguibus rubri-brunneis ; mandibula superiori apice eniarginato ; inferiori 
apice acuminato, sursum producta. 
Colour. — Head above pale straw-yellow, finely marbled with brown lines ; 
sides of head and lower jaw, greenish -yellow ; neck livid brown ; legs inter- 
mediate between win^ and straw-yellow ; nails reddish brown, occasionally 
inclined to yellow. Shell above dark greenish brown, the colour deepest 
towards the margin ; the vertebral and the upper extremities ol the costal plates 
tinted with livid grey ; sternum, pale orange, variegated towards its edges 
with deep reddish brown, the latter colour most abundant upon the gular, the 
intergular, the anal, and the lateral parts of the abdominal plates ; outer 
sides of upper and under jaws dark brown, with fine reddish brown vertical 
lines. Eyes straw-yellow. 
Form, &c. — Shell oblong, convex, and rather high ; margin ovate, and 
broadest behind, where it is more or less sinuated. The second and third 
vertebral plates nearly horizontal and six-sided, the anterior edge of each 
narrower than the posterior ; the fourth somewhat six-sided, the anterior edge 
broader than the posterior ; the first somewhat four-sided, the anterior edge 
much broader than the posterior, and each of its angles sometimes produced so 
as to form on each side a triangular projection between the first costal and the 
anterior marginal plates ; near the centre of the anterior edge of this plate is 
another triangular projection which enters between the two foremost marginal 
plates ; the posterior dorsal plate somewhat of the same form as the anterior 
one, only narrower; the third and fourth plates with a central elevation towards 
their hinder margins. Costal plates higher than broad, four-sided, the first of 
these where it is in contact with the marginal plates very wide, which gives it a 
somewhat triangular appearance. Marginal plates twenty-four : the first, se- 
cond, third, fourth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth, four-sided, the fifth, sixth, 
seventh, and eighth, more or less five-sided, and on the anterior side of each at 
the very margin of the shell is a small triangular process, which is received into 
a corresponding cavity in the hinder edge of the scale immediately in front of 
it; margin between the fore and hinder legs obtuse, elsewhere thin and sharp. 
Sternum semicircular in front, deeply emarginate behind ; a transverse joint 
between pectoral and abdominal plates ; gular plates small and triangular ; 
