SIWALIK AND NARBADA CHELONIA. 
39—193 
near the anterior border of the 2nd vertebral plate, and then bends backwards for 
, some distance, till it finally pursues a course at right angles to the long axis of the 
shell. The nuchal region of the specimen is broken away, but from the analogy in 
general structure to B. dhongolca it is probable that a nuchal plate existed : the divided 
pygal plates are distinctly shown. There is a well-marked interrupted vertebral 
keel throughout the length of the carapace ; the keel forming marked prominences at 
the hinder terminations of the 2nd and 3rd vertebral plates. 
Distinctness and affinities. — The general structure of the present specimen indicates 
that its affinity is with section a of group A (table on p. 187). The probable 
straightness of the sutnre between the postgulars and pectorals differentiates it from 
B. hacliuga and B. ellioti ] from both of which it is also distinguished by the elongation 
and peculiar form of the first three vertebral plates ; and from the former by the 
deeply notched xiphiplastron. With B. dhongolca and B. trivittatus the specimen 
probably agrees in the direction of the postgulo-pectoral suture. From the lattel’ 
it is distinguished by the elongation of the 1st and 3rd vertebral plates ; but with 
the former its affinity appears much closer. It is true that the 3rd vertebral plate of 
B. dhongolca is short, and not deeply interpenetrated by the 2nd, but there is the 
rudiment of such an arrangement in many specimens ; and the shape of the 1st and 
4th vertebral plates is very similar in the recent and fossil forms, which also agree 
in the notched xiphiplastron, and in the keeled vertebral scutes, in which knobs are 
formed at the posterior terminations of the 2nd and 3rd vertebral plates. There is 
also a close general resemblance in the contour of the shells of the recent and fossil 
forms ; but the latter is still more depressed. The peculiar form of the 1st and 2nd 
vertebral plates in the fossil affords ample grounds for specifically distinguishing it 
from B. dhongolca ; and it is proposed that it should be called Batagur du7'andi, in 
honour of Gren. Sir H. M. Durand, the associate of Sir E. M. Baker in the early 
collection of the fossils of the Siwalik Hills. 
That B. durandi belongs to the ancestral group from which the living B. dhongolca 
took origin there can be no reasonable doubt ; but it is not so clear whether the one 
form is the direct lineal parent of the other. 
Species 4. Batagur {cf. dhongoka, Gray^ [_ex B. Ham. MS.]) 
First notice of prohahle occurrence in Farbadas . — The specimen noticed below, 
which was obtained from the pleistocene of the Narbada valley, was described and 
figured by Stoliczka^ and is now in the Indian Museum. 
Fart of plastron. — The specimen in question consists of a part of the right 
hypo,- and xiphiplastron, exhibiting the boundaries of the epidermal plates. Stoliczka 
observes that the “ form, the flat surface and the outlines of the junction of the 
abdominal and preanal shields [plates], of the inguinal and of the adjoining marginal 
on the external side, entirely agree with the form of the same shields of the recent 
1 “ Illustrations of' Indian Zoology,” vol. II. pi. LX. (1830-32). 
^ ‘ Rec. Geol. Surv, Ind.’ vol. II. p. 39. pi. I. fig. 3. 
