does not appear to attain the development that distinguishes it in the other species,
and, unlike any of the other species, the external process is directed rather outwards
and bacfkwards than outwards and forwards. The anterior conjoint margin of the
xiphiplastrals is transverse and twice as broad as the conjoint posterior margins, the
two halves of which form an obtuse angle much the same as in adult E. punctata.
These plates, as already stated, are proportionally large for the species which
appears to be the smallest of all.
The stomach in this genus is not more dilated than the oesophagus, or than the
small intestine at its beginning, and it is not sq wide as the large intestine. The
first third is directed obliquely across the abdomen from right to left, lying, however,
on the left side of the mesial line. Its middle third is nearly longitudinal, and its
latter third is almost transverse, and the pyloric end, which is slightly contracted
and thickened, appears in the visceral cavity well to the left of the mesial line.
In opening the abdomen, the coils of the intestine are seen arranged in three
concentric circles with the transverse portion of the large intestine appearing
between the duodenal fold and first part of the second circle. On removing the
intestines entire from off the vertebral column and carapace, and turning ■ to the
back, two other concentric complete circular folds are observed, the innermost
fold beginning at the left side with the others external to it, the transverse colon
terminating on the left side, to the right of the pylorus. There is no caecum, and
the total length of the small intestine measures 3 feet 3 inches, and the large
intestine inches, in an animal 8ff-75 in length.
Two inches behind the larynx, the oesophagus is covered for about an inch with
rather lotng triangular flat villi, the surface of the pharynx anterior to that locality,
and the tongue and roof of the mouth being covered with similar but much
smaller structures. The rest of the oesophagus, the pyloric third of the stomach,
and the most contracted portion of -the small intestine are marked with fine
longitudinal folds. The remainder of the digestive tract, with the exception of
the large intestine, is smooth and of nearly equal breadth throughout, and were
it not for the narrow pylorus, there would be no indication either of stomach,
oesophagus or small intestine, but merely a continuous tube. The right lobes of
the liver are proportionally much larger than in Eatagv/r, and the bile duct is large,
but I have not been able to detect its opening in the intestine. The lung is stronger,
but quite as large as in the Eataguridce. There are two bronchi, one to each side.
The lung is more or less oblong and thick on its external two-thirds, but very thin
internally, its lower border being in close contact with the testicle and kidney.
The penis, which lies in the post-caudal dilatation of the cloaca, is large, compressed
from above downwards, the glans consisting of two equal semi-ovals, placed
in apposition, like a bilobate leaf, the tip being slightly pointed. I t is deeply
concave on its under surface, which carries two rather long conical filamentary
processes, one before the other, the anterior pair of which are the longest, and
situated a t the distal end of the proximal or basal third of the glans. These two
processes are widely separated from each other, and opposite to them the urinary
groove divides into two, one groove proceeding to each process. The groove which
passes first slightly posterior to the base of the process, then courses back in a
spiral manner on the process, till it reaches the anterior aspect of its tip. The other
grooves, passing backwards to the posterior or distal processes, are straightly
divergent, each terminating internally, but slightly posteriorly on the tip of its
process. The urinary groove of the body of the penis, as well as the grooves of
the glans, are very deep, and must form nearly a perfect canal when their edges
are in apposition. The groove is not continuous with the orifice of the bladder,
but below where the ureters open, the cloaca is marked by fine longitudinal rugae.
The peritoneal canals commencing slightly below and external to the neck of the
bladder appear to terminate in the bases of the proximal pair of filamentary processes
and in the spongy substance of which the glans is made up. There are no
lateral cloacal bladders. The allantoic bladder is a moderately sized pyriform sac
marked by strong rugae on its fundus; the remainder of its wall being smooth.
In females measuring 5"*35 in length of carapace, the clitoris which is like
a miniature penis, is 0"*20 in extreme length. The division between the lobes
is more deeply marked than in the penis, and the filaments are more continuous
with the lobes, one pair being directed forwards and the other backwards, while
in the penis these structures form nearly a right-angle with the longitudinal a.-ris of
the glans. Erom the base of the proximal pair of processes, a fold of skin passes
upwards and outwards, terminating externally in .a little wart-like papilla that
marks the position of the ending of the peritoneal canal. The urethral groove is
shorter in the females and only extends about half the distance that intervenes
between the clitoris and ureters, the intermediate surface being densely covered with
transverse folds.
The females are distinguished from the males by their apparently greater size;
their proportionally much shorter and narrower tails; by the more rounded character
of the shell, and its greater fulness behind the inguinal region and greater depth
through the middle line. In both sexes, the tail is generally so bent on itself in the
cloacal region, that when the animal is retracted and the vent closed, the bend of the
caudal vertebrae projects downwards, so as to abut against the anal fold of the sternum
posterior to the penis and cloaca, with the anal fold and caudal contraction of
the carapace effectually closing the entrance to the cloaca. The upper surface of
the tail in E. granosa is marked by a smooth ungulate surface of a darker colour
than the rest of the skin, and at first sight resembling a scale.
There is a minute papilla at the anterior extremity of the floor of the
nasal passage with a short fold passing backwards from it in the direction of the
nasal septum and acting as a valve.
In specimens of this genus only an inch and a quarter in length, the plastron
presents no trace of the callous plates that afterwards become developed on its constituent
bones. In a specimen If- inch in length, however, the epiplastral plates are
indicated by a puckering of the skin over the anterior end of the bones, and over
the hyo- and hypoplastra at the point where they have already united immediately