appears to be an example of B. lineata, and the former appears to be the specimen
referred by Theobald1 to B. lineata, but which is distinct and probably B. iravadica.
The following are the characters of the female of this species:—
Snout short, and not upturned as in B. baska, concave from before backwards
between the eyes. Eyes rather prominent and directed outwards; iris dark or light-
brown, without any speck. Head broad between the eyes and across the ear, much
broader behind than B. baska. TJpper surface of the head, behind the eyes and over
the ear, covered with moderately sized shields. A large shield below the angle of the.
mouth, with some small scales behind it. Ear rather large. Skin of the neck and'
limbs finely granular. The toes are broadly webbed, and the anterior surface of the
fore foot covered with narrow long separated scales or shields, those on the middle and
inner side of the limb being the largest, with three or four large round scales on the
flap above the fifth toe of the front foot. The upper surface of the toes with large
transverse scales. The sole with small round separate scales, with three long narrow
transverse plates behind these, and succeeded by smaller scales of a similar nature.
A patch of eidarged transverse scales along the upper and under surfaces of the
margin of the hind limb, with enlarged transverse scales on the upper surface
of the toes, and rounded small scales on the solej claws rather short, brown at
the base and yellow at the tips. The tail consists of 23 vertebrae, and extends a
short distance beyond the carapace. The skin is granular, and there is a lateral line
on either side of its upper surface, of almost spiny granules larger than the others.
The under surface of the tail, behind the vent, bears two lines of rather large flat
tubercles.
The shell has a vertebral ridge, and is a rather long oval, its margin slightly
expanding from the sixth to the seventh marginals, but rounded off from the
hinder margin of the last plate, with the margins in this region very slightly upturned.
I t is a much narrower oval than B. baslca, and the margins are much less reverted,
and the shell is much less expanded posteriorly. There is also an absence of the same
fullness over the first vertebral that distinguishes B. baslca, but, in the rounding and
fullness of the anterior portion of the carapace, there is considerable variation due
to individual peculiarities, and not to sex. The sides of the carapace over the first and
second costals are occasionally almost flat, while in others they are distinctly convex.
The shell slopes gradually downwards and backwards from the hinder margin of. the
second vertebral, and the costal region in that portion of the shell is very feebly
curved. The nuchal is triangular, with a broad posterior base in young and adolescent
individuals, but, in the adult before me, it is considerably narrowed posteriorly and is
broader in front than behind. The first vertebral has divergent lateral margins as in
B. baslca, whilst in B. dv/oaucelli the margins are more or less contracted in the middle.
I t is hexagonal, with a concave posterior margin, the concavity being directed backwards.
Its nuchal border, in some, slightly exceeds the length of its first marginal
border, while in others this proportion is reversed. The first marginal border is sometimes,
about one-half the extent of the first costal suture and at other times longer.
1 Joarn. Linn. Soc., vol. r, 1868, p. 16.
The second vertebral suture is shorter than the costal border, in some, longer than in
others. The second vertebral is sometimes slightly longer than broad, and in others as
broad, if not broader than long. Its distinguishing feature is its forwardly arched anterior
half, corresponding to the first vertebral and first costals, and its posteriorly contracted
half, corresponding to the second costals which project into the concave lateral
margin of this portion of the shield which has a straight posterior border. In the
centre line, near the hinder end, the plate is marked by a distinct somewhat back-
war dly projecting nodosity. The third vertebral is broader than long; its costal margin
is concave from behind forwards, and nearly equalling in breadth two-thirds of the
length of the plate. The plate is also marked near its hinder border by a low
spinous nodosity. The fourth vertebral is elongated, being considerably longer than
broad in some; but the length of this plate is subject to variation. The middle of
the third costal margin is concave from without inwards, and its posterior half convex
from within outwards. The vertebral margin of the fourth costal is convex, straight,
or sinuous. The posterior border is concave, or straight, and about one-third less than
the breadth-©f the anterior border, while in others it equals it. The third has a
low spinous nodosity near its end. These nodosities all but disappear in the adult.
The fifth is triangular, the apex more or less rounded, and the base broad, articulating
with two marginals. I t shows distinct indications in adolescents, and even in adults,
of a central ridge. The length of the gular is one-half that of the postgular suture,
which in its turn nearly equals the length of the pectoral, which is about the
same length as the abdominal suture. The preanal is a little longer than the postgular
suture. The anal is a little more than two-thirds the length of the preanal
suture, and is equivalent to the united posterior breadth of the preanals. The gulars
are longer than in B. baska, equalling nearly half of the length of the postgular
suture, which is either as long as, or shorter than, the pectoral suture. The abdominal
suture equals or nearly so the united gular and postgular length; the preanal is shorter
than, or little exceeds the length of, the pectorals. The anals are little longer than
their greatest breadth, and the anal notch is shallow and broad. The ridge on the
sides of the sternum disappears in adolescents.
The head is light greenish-olive, darker above, yellowish above the tympanum
to the upper margin of the orbit, greenish-yellow from the nose to the angle of the
mouth, dark purple about the nostrils from which a faint dark-greenish broad band
passes to the eye, and increasing in breadth behind the orbit dips down to the
angle of the mouth and stretches through the tympanum, re-appearing behind it.
The occiput is occasionally dark olive-brownish or even blackish. The remainder
of the animal is yellowish-olive, more yellowish on the enlarged scales of the
limbs.
The shell above is dark-brown, almost black in some, while in others it is almost
a pale olive-brown. The under surface is yellowish, the shields being more or less
obscurely radiated, in the dark individuals, with brown from the areolss. The post-
inguinal marginals have a greenish-yellow tinge, clouded with brownish. Notwithstanding
the general similarity, at first sight, of the shell of this tortoise to B.