1854.] 13 



ceding description noticed it in his travels. There can be no doubt of its exist- 

 ence in St. John's river of Florida, and that it can be obtained at any time. 

 Although it is represented in the figure attached to the description with five 

 claws on all the feet, this does not detract from the truth of the account. If this 

 be an error, I attribute it to his not having made a complete drawing of it at the 

 time when he first saw it, and afterwards having finished it from memory ; from 

 this may have resulted the error, if there is one. Although I do not see any more 

 difficulty in a Trionyx having claws on all his toes, than in a Cistudo having 

 three claws when it has five toes j in this case there is a subtraction, in the 

 other an addition. It has been said that this wa3 an incorrect and exaggerated 

 figure of the Trionyx spiniferus (spinifer) of Lesueur. Nothing can be more 

 absurd than this assertion. Lesueur's species has on the front part of the cara- 

 pace a series of small pointed warts not easily discoverable, while Bartram's 

 animal has larger extensible and contractile tubercles on the head and neck. I 

 remember when it was much the custom to ridicule Mr. Bartram, and to doubt 

 the truth of many of his relations. For my own part I must say, that having 

 travelled in his track I have tested his accuracy, and can bear testimony to the 

 absolute correctness of all his statements. I travelled through Florida before it 

 was overrun by its present inhabitants, and found every thing exactly as he re- 

 ported it to be when he was there, even to the locality of small and insignificant 

 plants. Mr. Bartram was a man of unimpeached integrity and veracity, of 

 primeval simplicity of manners and honesty unsuited to these times, when such 

 virtues are not appreciated. 



Apalone hudsonica, Rafinesque, Annals of Nature, p. 3. 



Upper shell rounded-elliptical, fiat, entire, soft, with a small anterior keel, 

 yellowish with brown spots, and a circular black line near the margin. Two 

 long oculated spots before and behind the eyes. Nose proboscidal; jaws with- 

 out a bill. Lower shell anterior. Body denudated behind. Tail obtuse, mu- 

 cronate, shorter than the shell. Five palmated toes to all the feet, with small 

 claws. Length 2 to 6 inches. 



Found in the Hudson river between the falls of Hadley, Glen, and Baker, and 

 further up to the source. Called Mud Turtle. 



Although this description was published long ago by Rafinesque, no one, that 

 I know of, has ever thought fit to look for the animal. Now, although Rafin- 

 esque was certainly insane and apt to see and describe things w r hich had no real 

 existence, yet when his descriptions appear full and complete, and his localities 

 accurately specified, it certainly is worth while to look for the objects he pro- 

 fesses to have seen. Why do not some of our young naturalists take such things 

 in hand ? Advancing age forbids me. 



The slender Lizard, Penn. Supp., p. 86. 



About eight inches long, as slender as a crow-quill; head small, tail blunt and 

 of equal thickness ; body marked from head to tail with lines of pale brown and 

 black, belly lead color ; top of the nose and tail white. 



Salamandra. 



1 once saw, and indeed had in my possession, a Triton or Salamandra, which 

 was sent from New Orleans, of which the following is a short description. I add 

 it in this place because it was a most extraordinary animal. 



Dusky, speckled with yellowish white, and inclining to blown on the belly ; 

 everywhere except on the belly and tail covered with small warts, so as to re- 

 semble shagreen; tail blunt, with a narrow fin wrinkled longitudinally and trans- 

 versely so as to appear striated and articulated. Length 5 in. .75. 



The preceding are all the animals which I can find that have once been more 

 or less particularly described, but of which at present no one knows anything. I 

 might have added to the list many that have been described by Rafinesque, but 

 the most of them appear in their coloring, as well as in other characteristics, so 

 opposed to everything known of congeneric species, as to render it extremely 

 probable that the author was laboring under some delusion when he published 



