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Dr. J. E. Gray on new species of Tortoises. 67 " The Ras having subsequently made me a present of three of these animals alive, I found them not only in excellent health, but so exceedingly wild, that I was obliged to have them shot. " The horns of one of these are now deposited in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, and a still larger pair are placed in the Collection of Lord Falentia, at Arley Hall. The length of the largest horn of this description which I met with was nearly four feet, and its circumference at the base twenty-five inches. " I shall only further observe that its colour appears to vary as much as in the other species of its genus ; and that the peculiarity in the size of the horns was not confined to the male, the female being very amply provided with this ornamental appendage on her fore-head, pp. 258, 259. See also Bruce's * Voyage,' App. 1. Letters 9 & 10." Dr. Gray observes that the horns are shorter, and more curved and lyrated than the figure engraved in t. 19, at p. 259 of Salt's * Travels in Abyssinia,' which also appears to make them bear a larger proportion to the size of the animal than the specimen suggests ; and they are quite as remarkable for their erect position on the forehead as for their size. They and the core which supports them are very light, compared to their size, and not half the weight of the smaller wide-spreading horns of the long-horned Cape Waggon Oxen. The horns are thin, pale coloured, and of a loose texture, being worn and fibrous on the surface in several parts. In the lightness and very cellular structure of the core, the thin-ness of the horny coat, and the large size, they agree with the pair of horns in the British Museum brought from Central Africa by Cap-tain Clapperton, R.N., and Major Denham, R.E., which are figured in Griffiths' * Animal Kingdom,' vol. iv. t. 201. f. 4 ; but these horns are shorter and much larger in diameter, and are spread out on the sides of the head like those of the Common Domestic Oxen, and they are very much lighter for their size than those of the Galla Oxen or Sang a. Sir Richard Vivian has kindly informed me that he has seen a breed of cattle in Italy, with the horns rather erect, somewhat resembling those of the Sang a in position. Description of a New Genus and some New Species of Tortoises. By John Edward Gray, Ph.D., F.R.S., V.P.Z.S. ETC. Fam. 1. Emydid^. 1. Manouria, n. g. Animal unknown. Shell rather depressed ; caudal plates double, separate ; sternum solid, broad, produced and slightly nicked in front, notched behind, with only five pairs of broad shields ; pectoral shields short, subtriangular, only occupying the angle between the outer edge of the humeral and abdominal shields ; axillary shields small, inguinal larger ; the areola of the discal shields central. 5*

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Description of a new genus and some new species of tortoises

J E Gray
Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist (2) 15: 67-69 (1855)

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