Volume II Part 52 (1/2)

84. Hydraspis australis, t. 6.

Body ovate, back dark olive, rather convex, rounded on the middle of the sides, with a narrow reflexed edge, shelving behind with a broad expanded margin; vertebral s.h.i.+elds broad, six-sided, last subtriangular; beneath rather convex, yellow, shelving on the sides; the second marginal plate with an angular lobe produced into the suture between the vertebral and first costal plates; claws sharp, black; skin of head and limbs smooth.

Inhabits Western Australia ?

The back covered with conferva.

85. Chelodina longicollis.

Mr. Gould brought two large specimens of this species, which are much more ovate and convex than Dr. Shaw's specimens. They are 7 inches long by 6 wide. It may be a particular variety, or they may become more ovate as they increase in size, The sternal s.h.i.+elds (in specimens preserved in brine) are pale yellow, with black edges.

86. Chelodina oblonga, t. 7.

Sh.e.l.l oblong, rather contracted in front, with a broad impression on the middle of the back; back olive brown, with irregular anastomosing lines on the s.h.i.+elds; beneath reddish-yellow. The marginal plates longer than broad, the second larger than the first and third; and rather angularly produced in the middle of the inner edge, opposite the suture between the first dorsal and first costal plate; the sternum high, flat, strongly and sharply keeled on the sides.

Inhabits Western Australia.

This species is at once known from Chelodina longicollis by the form of its high, flat sternum, which is strongly keeled on the sides, and by this part being of a uniform reddish colour, without any dark margin to the plates; the hinder part of the sternum is only slightly concavely truncated, and not deeply notched.

It is also known from that old well-known species by its oblong depressed form, and by the form of the marginal plates, and especially from the second and eleventh marginal plates on each side being placed more forwards, so that the centre of their inner edge is opposite the suture of the first and last costal plates with the dorsal ones; instead of their front margin, as is the case with all the specimens of Chelodina longicollis I have seen.

This species grows to a large size. Mr. Gould brought a specimen which he gave to Mr. Bell, which is 11 inches long, and the neck is nearly equally long, very thick, and studded with large warts; the head is broad and depressed, covered with a thin skin, like a Trionyx, and marked with small thin scales.

92. Cystignathus dorsalis.

The palatine teeth in a single large straight line, just behind the inner nostrils; tongue large, slightly nicked behind, the tympanum nearly hid under the skin; gray-brown (in spirits) marbled with dark irregular spots, with a white streak down the middle of the forehead and front of the back; sides pure white, spotted and marbled with black; beneath white; toes elongate, slender, tapering; back part of thighs brown, white speckled.

Inhabits Western Australia. Mr. Gould.

This species is very distinct from C. peronii and C. georgia.n.u.s, the two Australian species described by Messieurs Dumeril and Bibron. It agrees with the former in the disposition of the palatine teeth.

HELIOPORUS, Gray.

Head short, swollen; eyes large, convex; palatine teeth in a straight interrupted ridge between the two internal nostrils; teeth very small; body swollen; skin of the back minutely granular, of the belly smooth; legs rather short; toes 4.5, short, warty beneath, quite free; the hind wrist with a large, oblong, compressed, internal tubercle; the base of the inner finger with a conical wart, ending in a small acute bony process; tongue large, entire behind.

This genus has many of the characters of Cystignathus, but differs from it in being warty and swollen, and in having short toes like a toad.

94. Helioporus albo punctatus, t. 1 f. 2.

Lead-coloured (in spirits) with white spots; beneath dirty white, with some small white warts at the angle of the mouth; legs smooth.

Inhabits Western Australia.

103. Hyla Adelaidensis, Gray, t. 8 f. 2.

Slender; fore-toes quite free, hinder toes webbed to the last joint; (in spirits) gray-blue, with a series of small oblong tubercles; the sides purple-brown with a white streak from the underside of the eyes to the shoulders; sides of the belly and region of the vent purplish, with small white spots; the hinder side of the thighs purple-brown, with three large oblong white spots; belly and under side of thighs granular; chin white, brownish dotted; palatine teeth in two roundish groups between the internal nostrils.

Inhabits Western Australia.

104. Hyla binoculata, Gray, t. 8, f. 1.