20 EMYSINSCULPTA. 



from that of Dumeril and Bibron. Schweigger says:* "The sternum is truncate 

 in front, obtuse or but shghtly sinuous behind, and is joined to the shell by 

 cartilage." All this agrees perfectly well with the Cistuda Europea, (Cistuda 

 pulchella of Schoepf,) of which Dumeril and Bibron also remarkif " The sternum, 

 which is oval, &c., has its anterior extremity truncated and its posterior hardly 

 emarginate;" and again, "this sternum, which is, &:c. &c., to be united with the 

 shell by means of cartilage." But look for a moment at their account of the 

 Emys insculpta of Leconte, which they suppose identical with the Emys pulchella 

 of Schweigger, and we shall see that they do not agree in the most important 

 particulars. Thus, in their characters of the genus Emys, under which they have 

 very properly arranged the animal in question, they say, "sternum immovable, 

 and solidly articulated to shell;" which is correct; but it neither agrees with 

 Schweigger's description of his pulchella, as may be seen above, nor with their 

 own characters given to the genus Cistuda, under which they arrange the pulchella 

 of Schoepf, (Cistuda Europea.) And again, as regards the form of the sternum — 

 Dumeril and Bibron say with truth of the Emys insculpta, "deeply notched behind 

 like the letter V;" while in Schweigger's account of the pulchella, it is "hardly 



Schweigger had no notion that he was describing a new species of Emys 

 when drawing up the specific characters of the E. pulchella; on the contrary, he 

 supposed that he was continuing the species Testudo pulchella of Schoepf, to 

 whose description he refers; and although he may have seen individuals of the 

 E. insculpta in the Garden of Plants at Paris, as he avers, still his description 

 does not correspond with it in any of the most remarkable points, while it is 

 perfectly applicable to the Cistuda Europea or Testudo pulchella of Schoepf, which 



* Sternum duodecim areis; antice truncatum; postice obtusum, levissime sinuatum; cartilagine 

 testae adnexum, &c. Prod. Arch. Konigsb., p. 305. 



f Le sternum qui est ovale, &c. &c., a sa partie anterieure comme tronqude et son extremity 

 posterieure a peine echancree. And again: Ce bouclier inferieure, &c. &.c., de chaque cote 

 pour s'unir i la carapace au moyen d'un cartilage, &c. Hist, des Rept., torn. ii. p. 232 et 224. 



