The form B. peter si appears not to be common, and although Blyth obtained
his specimens in Calcutta, there is no evidence that they were found near
Calcutta. According to my experience, most of the Ghelonia that find their way
to the Calcutta market come from considerable distances. The specimens I
have obtained are four in number; one female obtained by Mr. G. NeviH at
Huzurapur in the Jessore District, two males from Eurreedpore, and one male from
Dacca.
Sub-Genus H a r d e l l a , Gray.
Axillary and inguinal septa of the shell strongly developed as in the ordinary
species of Batagur. Alveolar surface of the upper jaw very wide, and antero-
posteriorly long, as in Morenia. An oblique raised dentated ridge in its middle,
on either side, separated anteriorly by a deep pit over the premaxillaries. Margins
of the upper and lower jaws strongly dentated. A deep premaxillary notch
with a prominent tooth on either side of it, the high smyphysial tooth of the
lower jaw fitting into 'the notch. The lower jaw with a ridge on each side
separated anteriorly by a longitudinal groove.
4. B a t a g u r ( H a r d e l l a ) t h u r g i , Gray.
Buys thurjii, Gray, Syn. Kept., p. 22, 1831; Dirnu & Bibr., Erpdt. G<inl., vol. ii, 1835, p. 31'8;
Dum6ril., Cat. Method Rept., 1851, p. 14;
3 nys tkurgii, Gray, Cat. Tort. B. M., 1844, p. 17; id., Cat. Shd. Rept., B. M., 1855, p. 21; Blytb,
Joum. As. Soe., Bengal, vol. xxii, p . 63, 1855; id., ¡ ¡ j j vol. xxxii, p. 81, 1863.
Buys thuji, Gray, HL Ind. Zool., vol. i, tab. 78,1882.
Buys Jlavonigra, Lesson, Bull, de S.c. Nat., t. xxv, p. 12; Yoy. de Belanger, Zool., p. 293, 1834.
Clemmys thurgi, Strauch, Cbelon. Stud., p. 82, 1862 ; id., Vertheil. Schildkr., p. 71, 1865.
Buys thurgi, Giinth., Rept. of Brit. Ind., p. 24, 1864.
Kachuga oldhami, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soe., Lond., 1869, p. 2.00, fig; xiv, skull*.
Batagur thurgi, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soe., Lond., 1870, p. 708; Theobald, Joum. As.. Soe.,, Bengal,
vol. xxxvii, ex;'No., 1868, p. 12; Descr. Cat. Rept., Brit. Ind., p. 23, 1876.
Hardella thwgi, Gray, Suppl. Cat. Sh. Rept., B. M., p. 58, fig. xxi, 1870; id., App. Cat. Shd.
Rept., B. M., p. 18, 1873; Theobald, Proc. As. Soc., Bengal, 1872, p. 84; Hand List,
Sh. Rept., 1878, p. 52.
Hardella indi, Gray, Suppl. Cat. Shd. Rept., 1870, p. 58; id., Hand L ist, Sh. Rept,,p; 52, 1878.
The shell of the female is an elongated oval, narrower in front than behind*,
attaining its greatest breadth at the sixth and seventh marginals. The border from
the eighth to the twelfth marginals is sinuous, but not serrated in the adult, although
it is so in the young. The posterior margins are slightly upwardly convergent,
forming a very obtuse angle with the sternal portion of the margin of the shell1.
There is a faint concavity over the anterior angle of the first costal and the hinder
half of the first and second marginals, also over the ninth, tenth and eleventh marginals,
and between the fourth and fifth vertebrals in the adult. The caudal
notch is well developed. The costals are well arched in the female but flatter in
the male. In the young and the male, an areolar nodosity occurs near to the
centre of the superior border of the first and second costals, and close to the superior
posterior angle of the third costal. In the fourth costal, the upper is more convex
than the lower half, but there is no distinct nodosity. In the adult, these nodosities
are distinctly visible as swellings , in these portions of these shields; and as the
second, third and fourth vertebrals are rather concave than otherwise, although they
are markedly convex in the young and in males, these nodosities almost simulate a
costal ridge in the adult, as they constitute an obscure longitudinal eminence which
is separated from the vertebral ridge by an intervening shallow concavity. In the
youngs the vertebral ridge is most pronounced at the hinder border of the areohe
which are strongly transversely developed, slightly posterior to the centres of the
plates, the outlines of which they retain, their surfaces being finely roughened, and
the areolae surrounded by lines concentric to their forms.
The ridge is most defined in the first vertebral, and in the young embraces the
nuchal. In the male, and young females of the size of the ascertained males, the
ridge terminates rather abruptly close to the posterior margin of each plate in a
kind of nodosity; but in the large adult females these entirely disappear, and the
ridge is rather depressed at the junction of the plates. In the young, the vertebral
plates are relatively much broader than in the adults, the breadth of the second
vertebral plate, which is about the same breadth as the third, equalling the distance
between its external angle and the margin of the shell, while, in the adult female,
the breadth of that plate is less than one-half of that distance, whilst in the males
it is considerably more. In the young, the nuchal is triangular and broader at
its base than long, while in the adult that shield preserves the same form. In
the former stage, the first vertebral is almost quadrangular in some, while in others
it is narrower in front than behind, with the margins nearly straight, and is considerably
broader than long. In the adult, this shield is sometimes as broad as
long, while in others it is longer than broad. Its lateral margins are sometimes
nearly parallel, whilst in others they converge anteriorly as straight lines, while
occasionally their anterior halves are concave and their posterior halves convex, so
that the shield is nearly bell-shaped. In the majority of adults, the second, third,
and fourth vertebrals are longer than broad, with rectangular borders, the costal
margins of the third and fourth plates being more or less sinuous, while other individuals
have the first and second vertebrals broader than long, and the third and
fourth as long as broad, besides other intermediate individual variations. The general
characters, however, of the first, second, third and fourth vertebrals are, that they
are more or less quadrangular or oblong, generally longer than broad, with nearly
rectangular margins and of nearly equal breadth anteriorly and posteriorly, with the
exception of the posterior margin of the fourth vertebral, which is less than
two-thirds the breadth of its anterior border. In the young, the first, fourth
and fifth vertebrals are of nearly equal breadth, but, in the adult, the last mentioned
shield is by far the broadest. I t is contracted at its anterior extremity,
and its costal margin is convex, and it articulates broadly with the eleventh
marginal.