T E S T U D 0.—Brong7iiart. 



Genus Testudo. — Characters. Body protected by a horny covering; shell 

 (carapace) solid; sternum (plastron) solid and immovable; jaws without teeth; 

 extremities short, thick, and clavate; toes short, closely joined, and covered by the 

 integuments as far as the nails; anterior extremities with five, posterior with four, 

 short strong conical nails; head and extremities retractile within the shell.* 



TESTUDO POLYPHEMUS.— DaM^fm. 



Plate I. 



Characters. Shell irregularly oval, flattened above, ecarinate, entire; supra- 

 caudal plate single and incurvated below; sternum elongated, projecting beyond 

 the shell in front, and deeply emarginate behind; colour of the shell brownish- 

 yellow, clouded with darker brown; sternum yellow. 



Synonymes. Gopher, Bartrmn, Travels in the Floridas, Carolinas, &c., p. 182. 

 Testudo Polyphemus, Daudin, Hist. Nat. des Rept., torn. ii. p. 256. 

 La Tortue Gopher, Bosc, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat, torn. xxii. p. 269. 

 T. Polyphemus, Say, Jour. Acad. Nat. Scien., vol. iv. p. 207. 

 T. Carolina, Leconte, Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., vol. iii. p. 79. 

 T. Polyphemus, Harlan, Jour. Acad. Nat. Scien., vol. vi. p. 21. 

 T. depressa, Cuvier, Reg. Anim., torn. ii. p. 10, 

 T. Polyphemus, Gray, Synop. Rept., p. 11. 

 Gopher and Mungofa, Vulgo. 



* It is my intention at this time to give only the characters of the different genera; in a 

 subsequent number I shall add the special anatomy of each genus, illustrated by drawings. 

 Vol. I.— 6 



