PART 2 .] 
Stnlie:ka, an Pungs/uira tecta. 
■39 
Ijataqu It si 5 ,, conf. dhongoka, Gray. PI. I, Pig. 3. 
Gunther’s Reptiles of India, Ray Soc., 1864, p. 42. 
One right abdominal osseous shield has been found in the conglomeratic beds near the 
village Omeria. This abdominal osseous shield is 108 m.m. long and 94 m.m. broad in 
the region of the inguinal process. Its form, the flat surface and the outlines of the 
junction of the abdominal and prae-anal shields, of the inguinal and of the adjoining marginal 
on the external side, entirely agree with the form of the same shields of the recent Batagur 
dhongoka. Further materials are, however, necessary to show whether this supposed identi¬ 
fication be correct. 
The species occurs at present throughout India, especially in the larger rivers, and it is 
found up to the present time in the Nerbudda. Judging from the size of the fossil shield, 
the specimen to which it belonged must have been about one foot long; specimens much 
larger than this are met with alive now in India. 
Tkionyx sp., conf. gangeticus, Cuvier, PI. 1, Figs. 4—5. 
Gunther’s Reptiles of India, Ray Soc., 1864, p. 47. 
The two fragments which are referrible to the above species consist of the largest 
portion of the left lower inguinal plate, and a fragment of one of the bony (sternal) processes 
with broad longitudinal furrows. The rugose surface of the inguinal plate entirely agrees 
with that of Trionyx gangeticus, and this is the only reason which can at present be 
brought in support of the presumed identification of the fossil with the recent form. The 
thickness of the plate shows it to have belonged to a large specimen. These two fragments 
were also met with in the conglomeratic bed near Omeria. Trionyx gangeticus is found at 
the present time living in most of the large Indian rivers, especially in the Ganges and its 
tributaries. 
We have thus up to the present three species of Chelonia upon record from the newer 
tertiary fluviatile deposits of the Nerbudda valley. These all belong to forms which live in 
fresh water, and so far agree with Mr. Theobald's conclusions, derived chiefly from a con¬ 
sideration of the shell-fauna, that there are no traces of any estuary or brackish-water 
deposits. Of these three Chelonia we may accept with the highest probability the identity 
of Pangshura tecta with the existing species, and the great similarity of the other two 
to existing species is also unquestionable. The Chelonia, probably unnoticed by man, appear 
to have changed far less in the lapse of time than the Mammalia. The Pangshura tecta , 
and probably two other species (not yet known to occur in the Sevaliks proper), have 
then continued to exist unaltered, from the time of the Simtherium, Mastodon, various 
Elephants, Hippopotamus, Colossochelys and others, down to the present time. The 
changes in the conditions of climate, &c., may not have been great, and if the species of 
reptiles survived these changes man surely would have been able to do the same, had he 
existed at that early date. That he did so exist, and that he was a contemporary of the 
Colossochelys, as Dr. H. Falconer suggested long since, we have no reason to doubt, although 
as yet we may not be able to adduce any direct proof of the fact. 
Explanation of Plate I. 
Figs. 1, la, lb; dorsal, ventral and front views—half the natural size—of the carapace of a 
fossil specimen of Pangsh, tecta from newer tertiary conglomeratic beds near 
the village Moar Domar in the Nerbudda valley. 
Figs. 2 & 2a; dorsal and ventral views of half the carapace of a recent specimen of the same 
species; (natural size). 
Fig. 3 ... Ventral view of a right abdominal osseous shield of a species closely 
allied to, or identical with, Batagur dhongoka, Gray, from the same beds as 
Fig. 1; (half of natural size). 
Fig. 4 ... Portion of the sternal process of a species closely allied to, or identical with, 
Trionyx gangeticus, from the same beds as the last; (half of natural size). 
Fig. 5 , 1 , View of a fragment of the inguinal plate of the same species as the last, and 
from the same locality; (natural size). 
