breadth considerably exceeds the length of a xiphiplastron, and even the conjoint
breadth of two. The conjoint hyoplastron and hypoplastron have a rounded
internal margin, the entoplastral border being marked by a deep notch. These
elements are separated by an interval of only one line from the entoplastron,
internal to the notch; The xiphiplastra form a suture in the middle line, the
internal being the largest of all the margins, the external border being five-sixth of
its length. The external borders are anteriorly divergent, so that the plates are
broad anteriorly and narrow posteriorly; The anterior margin is slightly convex
and notched at its outer angle; the posterior equals one-third or so of the
external border, and it forms an oblique angle with its fellow, varying in degree.
The umbilical interspace, and the area around the entoplastron are much more
restricted in this than in any of the other species.
In the female the epiplastra are narrower and more elongated than in the male,
the entoplastron is considerably smaller and more rounded, and the abdominals are
proportionally smaller and separated by a wide interval. The xiphiplastra also are
relatively smaller, and their anterior margins are transverse and further apart
from the abdominals. These characters are persistent at all ages.
In youth (specimens 5"-65) the-entoplastron of the male is round, while that of
some females is transversely oval. The xiphiplastra in the male are in apposition in
the middle line, but their anterior margins are divergent, whereas in these females
they are separated, and both anterior and posterior margins are divergent.
Prom the base of the snout to the vertex, behind the eyes, appears to be
slightly moré arched in the males than in the females. The head is moderately
broad behind the vertex, being flat or slightly concave, and has much the same
breadth as in E. vittata, Peters. The upper lip is full and pendulous. The eye is
moderately large, considerably smaller than the tympanic area. The first claw
of both the fore and hind foot is relatively stronger than in the Gangetic species,
1Ü. punctata, Gray. The toes are not so broadly webbed as in the last mentioned
form, and in JE. vittata and E. granosa (Madras); the web between the fourth and
fifth toes of the hind foot, and the membrane along the base of the fifth toe,
are especially narrow. The skin on the snout and upper surface of the head
between the eyes in the males is covered with very fine granules.
The general colour of the upper surface of the shell in the adults is a
dark olive-brown with an obscure black reticulation, or spotted; the cartilaginous
marginal surface being a paler brown. The spots are occasionally reduced to
irregular rings, while in others they form dark reticulations all over the shell.
The sternum is yellowish-white, the callosities and marginals being pale fleshy.
The upper surface of the head and neck and limbs, and under surface of feet are
paler olive-brown than the shell, and, in adult females, the head and neck are
occasionally yellowish-olive. An obscure variable dark longitudinal band or spot
between the eyes; a dark line from the posterior margin of the eye over the
tympanum. Two obscure black spots on the vertex, occasionally absent, and some
smaller spots on the beginning of the. neck. The lips are more or less, yellowish
on the under surface, and in the pale coloured females are orange ; the angle of the
upper lips on the side being yellowish-orange, which does not occur in dark-coloured
males, but only to a very faint degree. The yellowish-orange, however, extends
behind the angle of the mouth involving the tympanum. The hyoid region has
a yellowish tinge, while the rest of the under surface of the neck is pinkish-white ;
the under surface of the limbs is the same colour with a purplish blush. The
claws are yellow, dark olive at the base, or wholly yellow in pale varieties. The
iris is various shades of pale yellow, in some, nearly white.
Thé skull (Plate LXXVa, figs. 12 to 16,) is closely allied by its form to the
skull of E. vittata, but its zygomatic arch is more bulging and the orbital portion
of the skull relatively shorter, the surface antero-posteriorly of the temporal fossa
being also shorter than in E. vittata. The shorter character of the skull as compared
with the skull of E. vittata also shows itself in the palatal and pterygoid
regions, which are shorter than in the foregoing species, while its posterior nares
are somewhat broader. The lower jaw is markedly distinct from that of E. vittata,
in its weaker symphysis, less lateral depth, and less divergent coronoids. The
skull of E. vittata is much less pointed than the skull of E. punctata, which has
an elongated facial portion even more pointed than in E. ceylonensis. Although
these differences exist between the skulls of E. scutata and E. vittata, they are
undoubtedly more nearly related to each other by their skulls than to any of the
other species.
E. scutata, Peters.
Total length of shell
Greatest breadth of shell. .
„ depth of shell . . .
Total length o f sternum .
Breadth at axilla . . . .
» at groin '. ; .
Length of head and neck
Anterior angle of eye to tip of snout
Breadth of snout at tip .
„ • „ „ base
Distance between eyes, anterior angle
„ „ „ posterior angle
„ over tympanum
Posterior angle of eye to angle of gape
Base o f tail to tip . . .
Inches. Inches.
900 7-33
7*]6 5-82
3-40 3-08
8-33 7-08
575 4-92
4-00 3-40
625 6-ie
OfiO 0-60
040 0-40
0-40 0-45
0-40 0-50
0 65 0-72
1-66 1-60
0-95 1-04
0 6 0 100
This species is distinguished by the small size of its epiplastral plates and
the relatively great size of its entoplastral callosity and hy its nearly triangular-
shaped xiphiplastra and hy its comparatively short hyo- and hypoplastra and
small marginals. The epiplastra have the posterior contraction hardly, if at all,
marked, and they taper considerably to their posterior ends. The rami of the
entoplastron are about as divergent as in jE. punctata, and the plate is almost
spherical, hut broader generally in its posterior than its anterior half. The portion
pf the hyoplastral plate lying between the external and the entoplastral process