In both male and female, the areolar nodosities are well indicated, but in the
costals, the areolse do not rise up into eminences embracing the rest of the
plate, as generally occurs in T. actinodes, and on the under surface the areolae are
not perceptible, but as this sometimes occurs in Ceylon land tortoises referable to
T. actinodes, or to a variety of that species, much importance cannot be attached
to this character.
The head has much the general form as in ¡P. actinodes, and the jaws are
crenated in the same way and with three feeble teeth not so marked as in
T. elongata. The feet are smaller than in T. elongata, and are about the same
relative size as in T. actinodes, but the fore limh is covered with fewer and more
rounded scales. In T. actinodes many of the larger scales are leaf-shaped, while
in T. platynota they are all rounded.1 The rounded scales on the soles of T. platy-
nota are larger than in T. actinodes, but the heel wants the sharp scales' that mark
it in T. actinodes. The nails of the fore feet of T. platynota are shorter and
broader than in T. actinodes, while those on the hind feet of the latter are scarcely
so large and broad. The large conical scales, on the posterior portion of the thigh,
are very much smaller than in T. actinodes, and not at all prominent as in that
species. The head is covered generally by a large vertical plate and by two pairs
of large plates in front of it, one before the other, separated in the mesial line by a
small intercalated plate, but the upper surface of the head of T. actinodes is covered
rather irregularly with largish plates, and the tympanum is smaller than in the
latter species.
6 9
Length of carapace, straight line ............................................................
„ of plastron . . . . . . . . .
Axillary breadth ■ .....................................................................
Inguinal „ ........................................................... .......... •
Greatest breadth over c u r v e ............................................................
Depth through shell . . • ■ ■ . . . •
Vent to tip of tail . . . . . . . . .
Inches.
7-0
6-20
3 0 8
3-33
8-50
3 4 0
1 8 0
Inches.
10-20
8-60
4 1 0
6 1 0
1 2 6 0
4-80
1-20
The skull is shorter and broader than the skull of T. actinodes, and anteriorly
there is greater breadth between the inner margin of the alveolar plates of the
skull than in T. actinodes, and hence the alveolar plates are more narrowed anteriorly.
The vomerine ridge is prolonged further backward in the skull of T. platynota,
and the pterygoid region is not so concave as in I 7, actinodes, and is transversely
narrower. The tympanic orifice is smaller, and the squamous region is not
so deep as in T. actinodes, and the hasi-occipital region is considerably broader
in T. platynota compared with T. actinodes. The supra-ocular region of the skull
is hroad as in the last mentioned species, but shorter and not so produced forwards
over the nostrils. The temporal fossa, at its greatest breadth, is considerably broader
than in T. actinodes. The symphysis of the lower jaw is narrower than in the
latter, and the lateral indications of a tooth are less marked, and the alveolar furrow
is not so broad.
As in T. actinodes, the dorsal portion of the vertebral column^ is much compressed
as contrasted with T. elongata, and more removed from the neural plates.
The sacral vertebrae are two in number; and all the caudal vertebrae (22 in number)
to the extremity of the tail, bear caudal ribs perfectly distinct from the vertebrae.
In the first caudal, the rib nearly touches the pelvis, but in the second the rib is
suddenly smaller, and still more so in the third, but in the fourth there is a sudden
increase in size, and the ribs increase in length to the eighth, after which they gradually
decrease in size.
The individual elements of the manus and pes are feeble compared with those
of T. elongata.
The sternum presents the same type as the sternum of T. actinodes, having
a comparatively narrow xiphiplastron compared with T. elongata ; and the form
of the entoplastron agrees with that of T. actinodes, hut is smaller and not so
quadrangular as in T. elongata.
The eyes have the sclerotie bones so prevalent in the land tortoises and Mmydes.
The colour of the shell is variable. In the types it is covered with broad yellow
lines radiating from the yellow areolae, with intervening dark-brown areas, as in
T. actinodes, but much broader than in that species, only three arising from each side
of the second and third vertebráis, and all beingdirected outwards; the antero-posterior
lines from the anterior and posterior margins of these areolae and from the anterior
border of the fourth areola being absent, and the interspace in the mesial line between
these vertebral plates being a transversely lozenge-shaped brown figure. Four yellow
lines diverge from the posterior border of the areola of the fourth vertebral, two
from the anterior aspect of the fifth, and six from its posterior border. Two lines
proceed from the sides of the first vertebral areola and join the two most anterior
yellow lines from the second vertebral, and two lateral yellow lines pass out from
the sides of the first vertebral areola. The areolae of the costals are connected above
by a longitudinal yellow line joined at its middle by the mesial lateral yellow line
of the vertebráis, and three to four divergent yellow lines pass down from the costal
areolae to the marginals, from the areolae of which two yellow lines are upwardly
divergent; 'but there are no other transverse lines as in T. actinodes, and the area
between the downwardly divergent lines is dark-brown in its upper half and
yellow in its lower half.
This coloration, which is very regular and distinct in the types, is mueh obscured
in some individuals which are yellow, with brown radiating lines, the general colour
of the shell being yellowish. The absence of yellow lines between the vertebráis in
the mesial line, and the dark-brown character of that area, and the brown and
yellow area between the costal areolae and the downward lines, are the characteristic
colour-features of this species. The under surface of the sternum in these
yellowish individuals is yellow, with only some brown patches along the margina 0f
the shields. I have never seen the plastron of a brightly coloured individual.