CHELONURASERPENTINA. 27 



Geographical Distribution. The Chelonura serpentina is found in nearly all 

 parts of the United States, from Maine to Georgia, and from the Alleghanies far 

 towards the Rocky Mountains. 



General Remarks. Although the description of the Testudo serpentina of 

 Linnaeus is short and incomplete, yet it doubtless refers to the animal now under 

 consideration, which is the first trace of it, and the specific name applied by him 

 has been almost universally adopted by naturalists. The next notice is in Pen- 

 nant's Arctic Zoology, whose description agrees perfectly well with our animal, 

 with the exception of the "small head;" and he alone calls it Testudo serrata. 



To SchoepfT, however, is due the merit of having first clearly described this 

 animal, and his description is accompanied with an excellent figure. 



Some naturalists, Schweigger among others, have described a Chelydra (Che- 

 lonura) lacertima; this I regard as only a variety of the common serpentina, in 

 which the carina along the back was unusually depressed; and those excellent 

 herpetologists, Dumeril and Bibron, are of the same opinion. 



