TRIONYX FEROX. . 15 



states, but much less so of the western, and if the geographical distribution be 

 referred to it, it will readily be seen how widely extended in the west may be a 

 species entirely aquatic. 



Dumeril and Bibron have lately adopted the specific name spiniferus for this 

 animal, which I cannot retain, as that of ferox has the right of priority, having 

 been in general use for nearly fifty years. 



They furthermore consider the Trionyx carinatus of Geoffrey, and the Trionyx 

 brogneartii of Schwcigger, as merely the young of our animal, and the opinion of 

 such excellent herpetologists is worthy of all credit, especially as they affirm that 

 there is still preserved in the Museum of the Garden of Plants at Paris the 

 identical specimens from which those descriptions were taken. 



It has always appeared to me that the "great Soft-shelled Turtle" of Bartram, 

 and the Trionyx ferox were one and the same animal, for no other species than 

 this has ever been received from Florida, with which state we have now almost 

 daily communication. Leconte lived for a time on the St. John's river, the very 

 place where Bartram found his animal, yet he saw only the Trionyx ferox; and 

 several officers of the army, who have been stationed in that country for years, 

 and planters living on the banks of the river, have equally failed in finding the Soft- 

 shelled Turtle with the long warts about the neck. Bartram, though a respectable 

 botanist, was not an accurate zoologist, as his writings clearly enough show — the 

 spines given to the neck are those that properly belong to the carapace, and the 

 five nails represented as belonging to the extremities, are doubtless the result 

 of careless observation — for there are five fingers and as many toes, all perfectly 

 well developed, and he might easily suppose each one furnished with a nail, unless 

 he took the pains to examine them closely. 



Dumeril and Bibron are, I think, mistaken in supposing this animal of Bartram 

 a fictitious one. They say it represents the body and head of a Trionyx, but 

 that the feet and cutaneous appendages of the neck were taken from the 



