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Show 1870.] DR. j. E. G R A Y O N N E W TORTOISES. 655 unite them. I was at one time inclined to regard them as species*; but in the British-Museum series of the species are specimens of both varieties sent by the same persons from Ceylon, Himalaya, and Scinde, which makes it appear as if they were found intermixed together. Schweigger did not consider Schcepf's specimen of the young animal (which is very characteristic of the fewer-rayed variety) the same as the specimen which he described; and therefore he changed the name to stellatus. Dr. Gunther refers to Schcepf's figure without doubt, and to Schweigger's Testudo stellata with doubt (R. B. I. p. 4). ** Dorsal shields with pale and dark rays; ventral shields not rayed; nuchal shield none. India. 2. PELTASTES PLATYNOTUS. (Plate XXXIII.) Thorax oblong, flat, with six broad uniform pale rays; areola** uniform pale brown ; marginal shields with a brown marginal areola, and two pale rays ; sternum yellow, varied with black near the front or hinder margin of the shields, not rayed; underside of marginal shields with a very small marginal spot on the front edge. Testudo platynotus, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. xl. pp. 70-79; Theobald, Proc. Linn. Soc. T. elegans, var., Gunther, Rept. Brit. Ind. p. 5. Hab. Burmah. Blyth describes the flatness of the back as a peculiar character of the species ; but it is only to be observed in one out of the three specimens in the British Museum; and he does not mention the plain underside, which is found in them all. *** Dorsal shields pale- and dark-rayed; nuchal shield distinct. Africa. 3. PELTASTES GEOMETRICUS. Thorax oblong, dorsal and upper edge of marginal plates black; areolae small, of costal plates submarginal; costal plates with ten or more white rays ; upperside of marginal plates with three or more white rays; sternum brown-varied, of the older specimens more or less pale-rayed on the lateral margins; underside of marginal plates pale, with a black streak on the front edge; nuchal shield elongate, slender; the vertebral plates more or less convex, sometimes elevated, tent-shaped. Testudo geometrica, Gray, Cat. Sh. Rep. p. 8. Peltastes geographicus, Gray, P. Z. S. 1869. Var. 1. Shields conical, prominent. Testudo geometrica, var. tentoria, Gray, Cat, Sh. Rep. p. 8 (not Bell). B.M. Var. 2. The margiu of the sternal shields black, yellow-radiated. Hab. South Africa, Cape of Good Hope. |