| OCR Text |
Show 214 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE TORTOISES. [Mai*. II, obliquely longitudinal, with a short concavity behind each. Sternal callosities two, lateral, narrow. D. subplana. 10. PLATYPELTIS. Head oblong, rather depressed ; face moderate, rounded in front. Front of the palate with a very wide, shallow concavity, which is rather narrowed and rounded in front, and gradually dilated behind. Alveolar surface of the jaws flat, rather wider behind, of the upper jaw flat in front, rather wider on the hinder part of the sides, with a raised longitudinal subcentral ridge; of the lower jaw oroad, flat in front, with a sharp front edge, narrow in the front part and rather dilated on the hinder part of the sides, with a deep central longitudinal groove. Sternal callosities four; the lateral ones twice as wide on the inner as on the outer side; the hinder triangular, front edge sinuous and wider than the length of the straight inner sides. P. ferox. (From Pennant's specimen.) 11. TYRSE. Head elongate, face elongate, conical, narrow in front; forehead shelving. Skull, underside scarcely bent down in front. Palate nearly flat; central longitudinal concavity in front of the internal nostrils wide, much wider behind; internal nostrils small, rounded, with a short concavity behind each. The alveolar process of the upper jaw linear, elongate, scarcely wider behind. Lower jaw rather broad, with a shelving concavity on the upper surface in front, with a sharp alveolar edge which is rather wider and has a linear elongate concavity on the upper surface of the hinder half of the sides. Sternal callosities four, lateral and anal; anal triangular, rather broader than long. The hinder costal bones short, forming together a semicircle which is about two-fifths of the width of the costal pieces before them. T. nilotica. 12. CALLINIA. Head small, face short, tapering in front. Anterior palatine groove (in head with beak) narrow, linear, deep. Alveolar edge of the beak and upper jaw narrow, linear, tapering behind ; of the lower jaw rather wide, shelving inwards, with a sharp edge in front, and narrow, short, and tapering to a point behind. Sternal callosities four, lateral and anal. C. microcephala and C. spicifera. B. Sternum dilated behind, with a fiaj) on each side covering the hind legs. * Margin of dorsal disk cartilaginous, without marginal bones. Anterior central palatine groove short, triangular, broader behind. African. 13. CYCLANOSTEUS. Sternal callosities 15. Alveolar surface thin in front, broad on the sides. C. senegalensis. |
