Vol. 31, pp. 51-58 June 29, 1918 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



NOTES ON CLEMMYS. 

 BY ALBERT HAZEN WRIGHT. 



The interesting record of Muhlenberg's Turtle in Rhode Island 

 presented by Dr. H. L. Babcock in the April, 1917, Copeia 

 prompted the writer to assemble all of our western New York 

 records of that form and what we have of interest concerning its 

 habits, breeding and distribution. These notes are forthcom- 

 ing in another place and hence are omitted here. Subsequently, 

 Mr. E. R. Dunn described a new species of Clemmys from North 

 Carolina and this furnishes one of the occasions for these obser- 

 vations on the genus in general. His Clemmys nuchalis is herein 

 compared with western New York material and held to be 

 synonymous with C. muhlenbergi (Schoepff ) . Clemmys marmorata 

 (B. & G.) is not treated in these remarks. 



Clemmys muhlenbergi (Schoepff). 



In his very interesting and valuable paper on reptiles and amphibians 

 from the mountains of North Carolina, Mr. E. R. Dunn* records four 

 Muhlenberg's Turtles, one from Linnville, N. C, at 4,200 feet altitude, 

 and three from Brevard, N. C, at 2,100 feet altitude. He calls attention 

 to the fact that these are at a much higher altitude than the records of 

 most of the northeastern specimens which were taken mainly below 100 

 feet. A glance at the distribution of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New 

 York and Rhode Island records shows such a close correspondence to the 

 northeastern arms of the Upper Austral zone that it has prompted the 

 author to examine the records of western New York. All of them come 

 within the Upper Austral zone if we can think of sphagnaceous or 

 marly areas as having Upper Austral influences in this latitude. In 

 western New York this species has been taken at Ithaca at 400 feet, at 

 Bergen (near Rochester) at 580-600 feet, at Junius (near Geneva) at 480- 

 500 feet and at Westbury (near Oswego) at 420-440 feet. Strangely 

 * Bull. Amer. Nat. Hist., Vol. XXXVII. pp. 593-634. 



16— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 31, 1918. (51) 



