182 



[October, 



otherwise have been necessary. The species is thus described in Gmelin's 

 edition of the Systema Naturae, vol. 1, p. 1041. T. scorpioides. Palmis ungui- 

 bus, 5 plantis 4, fronte callosa triloba, cauda unguiculata. Hab. Surinami. 



Testa nigra, ovali, oblon_;a, dorso quasi angulis 3 obsoletis, scutellis dorsi 

 figura clypeorum nobilium {heraldic shields). Caput anterius tectum callo, qui 

 posterius trilobus est, plantarum digitis externis muticis, ungues acuti, cauda 

 incurva. 



The indistinctness of the dorsal carinas makes me conclude that by the expres- 

 sion " quasi angulis tribus obsoletis " is meant their rather imperfect develop- 

 ment. I may not be right in this, for the description is scarcely sufficient to 

 decide the question. Were it not for the great respect every naturalist ought to 

 " feel for the great master, 



" Qui cunctos superat quod aut fuerunt 

 Aut sunt, aut aliis erunt in annis," 

 it would be as well to strike out of our books this name, as well as many others 

 scattered through his works. 



M. Dumeril considers the longicaudatum of Spix, as well as his brevieauda- 

 tum, synonymous with this species. The two above-mentioned species are very 

 different from each other, and have but a slight resemblance to the scorpioides. 

 An attentive perusal of the tedious and oratorical descriptions of the Brazilian 

 traveller shows this. 



K. Mexicanit7n. Testa ovali valde convexa fusro-lutescente vel nigricante ; 

 dorso fortiter tricarinato, margine undique declivi, scutis vertebralibus secundo, 

 tertio, et quarto elongatis. Sterno utrinque rotundato, integerrimo. Cauda un- 

 guiculata. 



Hab. Mexico; whence it was brought by Mr. Pease. Considered by Shaw 

 in his general zoology as a variety of K. Pennsylvavicum, vol. iii., p. 61, pi. 

 15. 



Head and neck above black, beneath yellow reticulately spotted with black, 

 jaws yellow, the upper one hooked and entire. Chin with four small warts, 

 only visible in young individuals. Fore legs above dusky, spotted on the ante- 

 rior side with yellow, beneath brown inclining to dusky, with four plica? or 

 large transverse scales on the upper side. Hind legs of the same color, with 

 four large and broad scales and numerous small ones near the heel. Tail short, 

 dusky, naked, with a rather sharp and long nail. Shell brownish dusky varied 

 with yellowish or altogether yellowish, the plate with a few indistinct, concen- 

 tric striae, which in young ones are more numerous and more distinct, and ac- 

 companied by others radiating from behind, regularly oval, very convex and 

 elevated, strongly tricarinate, so as to form two deep and wide channels on the 

 back : very declivous on the sides and on the margin all round. Vertebral 

 plates elongated and imbricate, the first triangular, with the apex truncate, and 

 the base somewhat angled, applied to the nuchal and first marginal only ; the 

 second, third, and fourth urceolate-hexagonal; the second and third emarginate 

 behind; the fourth with the anterior lateral faces twice as long as the posterior 

 lateral, and the posterior side bearing the same relation to the anterior; the fifth 

 heptagonal, the two anterior faces very long, the posterior lateral short and per- 

 pendicular to the two basal, which are straight ; in young specimens this plate 

 is simply triangular, with the apex truncate. The first lateral plate is unequally 

 triangular, the lower side curved, second and third very long, pentagonal, the 

 fourth quadrangular with the posterior base widely emarginate, so as to give the 

 figure another side, which thus becomes pentagonal. Nuchal plate small, wider 

 at base ; all the other plates oblong and four-sided, except the penultimate, which 

 is twice the height of the others, with its upper face rounded, so as to emargi- 

 nate the posterior basal angle of the last lateral, and is applied on the upper 

 half of its posterior side to the last vertebral, giving that plate its pentagonal 

 form. Sternum large, yellow, the sutures black : oval, entire, rounded at both 

 ends, the plates in young ones concentrically and radiatingly striate, entirely 

 closing up the box : gular plate large, triangular ; pectorals irregularly foursided, 

 the anterior face longer than the lateral; brachials triangular; abdominals 

 nearly square ; femorals triangular with the apex truncate, and the base rounded; 



