1913] The Ottawa Naturalist. 63 



The ninth pair abuts proximally against the accessory plate only. 

 The neurals of S. nebrascensis shew variations to a limited 

 extent. In the majority of specimens of this species the second 

 and succeeding neurals are hexagonal with the maximum breadth 

 well forward. In the type of Testudo culbertsoni, Leidy, now 

 generally regarded as properly referable to S. nebrascensis , the 

 second neural is octagonal and the third quadrangular; also 

 there is an additional bone between the eighth neural and the 

 first suprapygal. The presence of a ninth pair of costal bones, 

 seven pairs of costal scutes and an additional vertebral scute 

 is considered to be, in the specimen from Sage creek, a unique 

 example of extreme individual variation. So far as the writer 

 is aware, in no turtle, belonging to an)? of the groups having 

 large epidermal scutes in the carapace, has so great a develop- 

 ment of vertebral and costal scutes hitherto been recorded. 



Explanation of Plates. 

 Plate I Carapace of Testudo prceextans, viewed from above; 



one-fourth the natural size. 

 Plate II -Plastron of the same shell, inferior aspect; one-fourth 



the natural size. 



Plate III Carapace of Stylemys nebrascensis, as seen from above, 

 to shew the abnormal number of costal and 

 vertebral scutes etc.; one-half the natural size. 



Plate IV Plastron of the same specimen, inferior aspect; one- 

 half the natural size. 



IS BARTRAM'S SANDPIPER DISAPPEARING FROM THE 



PRAIRIES? 



Twenty years ago the Bartramian Sandpiper (Bartramia 

 longicauda) was a common summer resident on the prairies of 

 Alberta, but for the past ten years it has become one of our 

 rarest birds, at least in central Alberta. During the summer of 

 1892 and several years following one could see a dozen pairs 

 in as many miles. About the year 1900 I did not see this many 

 in a whole season, and from that time until the present they 

 have gradually become rarer each year until this present season 

 I have only seen one pair. 



I cannot find a reason for this disappearance, and I would 

 like to have the experience of other observers of this bird given 

 in the Naturalist. 



F. L. Farley, Camrose, Alberta. 



