TESTUDO ACTINODES. 
subprominens. Sternum antice subdentatum, postice trigono- vel lunato-emargina- 
tum : scuta sterni flavo nigroque radiata, subsulcata : gularia parva, trigona : humeralia 
irregulariter pentagona: pectoralia antice sinuata: abdominalia magna, quadrata : 
femoralia quadrata • analia rhomboidea, porrecta : axillaria exigua : inguinalia parva, 
triangularia. 
Testee osseae mensura. 
unc. lin. 
Dorsi longitudo.8 6 
Latitudo ejusdem.5 3 
Altitudo.5 0 
Longitudo sterni.7 4 
Although specimens of this species have long existed in several of the Con¬ 
tinental museums, as is proved by the figures of Seba and of Lacepede, as well 
as the descriptions of the latter author and of Daudin, it had, until of late, 
been universally confounded with Testudo geometrica. The description of 
Lacepede, purporting to refer to the latter species, is, in fact, as well as his 
figure, taken from a specimen of T. actinodes, as he assigns to it only twenty- 
three marginal plates ; a character which belongs essentially to the present 
species, whereas T geometrica has always twenty-four. It is also the first 
variety of geometrica of Daudin. In the very young state it has received from 
SchcepfF the name of T. elegans , and that of T stellata from Schweigger; and 
Mr. Gray has adopted the latter name. In the adult state it was first described 
by myself in the Zoological Journal, and figured in the Supplementary Plates 
of that work. 
In its general appearance and the character of its markings, it certainly bears 
a great resemblance to the species with which it has been so often confounded; 
there are, however, many constant and strongly marked differences. The head 
is very similar both in form and colour, and so are the neck and limbs; but 
the anterior feet, in T. actinodes , are furnished with a greater number of those 
imbricated scales, which protect the anterior part of them in both species; the tail 
also is somewhat longer, and the thighs are furnished with about three or four 
