ST i 'RNOTH.B.R.TJS S-LNUA-TU S .7>oj HHtu/fa.J/UJiT? to g u t fcfiflKii—Jiaifs 1 .
S T E R N O T H E R U S SIN U A TU S.—S m it h .
R e p t il ia .— P l a t e I. (M a l e .)
8. capite. pallide stramineo-brunneo marmoiato; capitis lateribus viridi-flavis; collo livido-brunneo
pedibus stramineis maculis brunneis variegatis; testa supra viridi-bruimea, subtus aurantia, rubri-
brunneo marginata ; unguibus rubri-brunneis; mandibula superiori apice emarginato; infcriori
apice acuminato, sursum products.
C o l o u r .— Head above pale straw-yellow, finely marbled with brown lines ;
sides of head and lower jaw, greenish-yellow ; neck livid brown; legs intermediate
between wine 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 of 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.
F o rm , &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, second,
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;