74 
TORTOISES AND TURTLES. 
humeral with the pectoral shields. The painted terrapin of Eastern North America, 
which attains a length of 6 inches, and has a much depressed shell, takes its name 
from its brilliant coloration. Thus, the carapace is olive or blackish, with yellow 
lines bordering the shields, and its marginal shields red, with black concentric or 
crescentic markings; while the plastron is yellow, sometimes with small streaks 
of black on the middle line, and the bridge red, with black markings. The soft 
parts have a brown or blackish ground-colour, with lighter bands, which are yellow 
on the head and red elsewhere. 
Eyed and Chinese The eyed terrapin (Morenia ocellata), from Burma, together with 
Terrapins. an allied species from Bengal, constitute a genus distinguished from 
the preceding by the aperture of the posterior nostrils opening behind the line of 
the eyes. The typical species, in which the shell measures nearly 9 inches in 
length, takes its name from the eye-like black spots ringed with yellow which 
adorn each shield of the back portion of the carapace. On the other hand, the 
Chinese terrapin (Ocadia sinensis), which is the sole existing representative of its 
genus, differs from Clirysemys in having the entoplastron intersected by the groove 
formed by the junction between the pectoral and humeral shields. The genus is 
of special interest as being represented by extinct species in the upper Eocene 
strata of the south of England and the Continent. 
„ The remaining members of the family, which are arranged under 
Batagurs. ® J ® 
four genera, and may be collectively known as batagurs, are exclus¬ 
ively confined to India, Burma, and the Malayan region. They comprise the 
largest fresh-water representatives of the 
family, and are readily characterised by 
the great development of the vertical bony 
buttresses connecting the carapace with 
the plastron, which project as walls within 
the shell, so as partially to divide it into 
compartments. Of the four genera, 
Cachuga, which is represented by seven 
species from India and Burma, is readily 
recognised by the great elongation of the 
fourth vertebral horny shield of the 
carapace, which extends over four or five 
of the underlying neural bones. The 
smaller members, such as Smith’s batagur 
( Csmithi), and the black - and - yellow 
batagur (0. tectum), of the Ganges and 
Indus, are characterised by the fourth 
vertebral shield terminating in front in a 
narrow point. Whereas the former of 
these has a depressed and feebly keeled 
shell, the latter, especially when young, has 
the carapace much vaulted, and the third 
vertebral shield produced behind into a conical elevation forming the highest part 
of the shell. The name of black-and-yellow batagur is derived from the irregular 
UPPER SURFACE OF CARAPACE OF SMITH’S 
batagur (I nat. size). 
