40 



CATALOGUE OF SHIELD REPTILES. 



e. Youna; animal (dry). Discoloured from spirits. North 

 America. Presented by Gen. Th. Hardwicke. 



I. Adult animal (dry). Shell yellow, black -rayed. North 

 America. Presented by Gen. Th. Hardwicke. 



}. Adult (stuffed). Shell brown, paler rayed, with few 

 yellow spots. North America. 



k. Adult (stuffed). Shell black, yellow-spotted, rather 

 elongate, beneath brown. North America. Presented 

 by H. Doubleday, Esq. 



/. Adult. Shields pale, darker rayed. North America, 

 Louisiana. ]Mr. Smith's Collection. Called "Wood- 

 land and Cane-brake Tortoise." 



m. Adult animal (dry). Shell black, with large yellow 

 spots and rays. North America. 



n,o,p. Adult (stuffed). Larsre shields pale. North 

 America. Mr. Smith's Collection. 



Osteology : — 



h. Adult (upper shell only). Shields black, with large 

 yellow spots. 



g. Adult (upper shell only). Like "h." 



d. Adult (upper shell only). Shields pale, black-rayed. 



c. Adult (upper shell only). Wanting some shields. 



/. Adult (shell only). Back and sternum brown, with 

 large yellow marks. 



q. Skeleton (adult). Male. North America. From the 

 Paris Collection. 



Skull rather high ; forehead flat, rather shelving towards 

 the nose; nose truncated; sides of face perpendicular; 

 orbits lateral. 



The shell is so hard and the animal so strong, that it can 

 easily walk with 60 lbs. on its back. Its food consists of 

 fresh insects and the edible fungi, particularly the species 

 of Clararia. Many persons are in the habit of keepmg 

 them in their cellars, where they destroy snails, crickets, 

 and other noxious insects. It may be questioned if they 

 ever attempt, as has been said, to devour rats and mice ; 

 they are not well formed for the pursuit of such active 

 animals, who have too much sense to suffer themselves to 

 be caught by so sluggish a hunter. The same may be said 

 of the ridiculous stories of their catching and destroying 

 snakes. — Leconte. 



" This species has been cited as an example of longevity 

 among animals of the lower class : all tortoises are loug- 

 lived, but the finding of an individual with a name and date 

 engraved on its sternum jn-oves nothing ; the idle and foolish 

 are fond of inscribing their names everywhere, and may as 

 well antedate the time by half a century as state the true 

 vear of their attempt at immortahty." — Leconte. 



** Claws 5-3. Vertebral plates ^. Onychotria. 

 Onychotria, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1849, 16. 



2. Cistudo Mexicana. The Three-toed Box Tortoise. 

 Shell oblong, dark brown, pale spotted and rayed, spots 

 and rays sometimes confused ; vertebral plates with a nearly 

 continuous keel, and with a small intermediate one between 

 the usual fourth and fifth plate ; hinder margin acute, revo- 

 lute. Head pale brown ; fore-legs yellow or orange spotted, 

 hinder uniform brown ; sternum flat, gular plate wider in 

 front and gradually narrowed behhid. 



Cistudo (Onvchotria) Mexicana, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 



1849, 17. Rept. t. 2. 

 Cistudo Carolina, var.. Bum. Cat. Meth. R. 1 . 



Hub. Mexico ; New Orleans. 



a. Adult (stuffed). Shell : back high, compressed, 



shelving ; plate black, yellow-rayed. Mexico. Mr. 

 Warwick's Collection. 



b. Adult (stuffed). Shell oblong, evenly convex ; plate 



yellow, black-marbled. Mexico. JNIr. Warwick's Col- 

 lection. 



11. LUTREMYS. 

 Head ovate ; forehead rather convex ; cheeks sloping. 

 Eyes subsuperior. Legs covered with large thick scales 

 in front ; those of the outer side ovate, keeled ; of the 

 inner broad, band-like. Toes short, thick, covered with 

 band-like shields above, well webbed to the ends; claws 

 5 • 4, short, curved. Tail conical. Shell depressed, rounded. 

 Sternum broad, rounded before, rather truncated behind, 

 entirely enclosing the limbs when they are contracted. The 

 cross suture between the anterior and the posterior lobe in 

 the middle of the short sterno-costal suture. Axillary and 

 inguinal plates very rudimentary. 



Les Baillantes, Bum. S,- Bib. Erp. Gen. 221 (1835). 

 Lutreniys (part.), Gray, Cat. Rept. B.M. 

 Emys ("§ 2. Emvs), Bonap. Obs. Cuv. R. A. 164. 



Fit:. Syst'. Schihlk. ; Syst. Rept. 29 (1843). 



Flemin'q, Phil. Zool. ii. 270. 

 Emys a, Wugler, Syst. 138 (1830). 



1. Lutremys Europsea. The Speckled Tortoise. 



Shell depressed, ovate, brown, with radiating lines of 

 yellow dots ; sternum slightly nicked behind. Head and 

 body black, yellow-dotted ; tail elongate. 



Cistudo Europsea, Gray, Syn. 19 ; Cat. Tort. B.M. 31. 



Btrm. §• Bib. Erp. Gen. ii. 220 ; Cat. Meth. R. 7. 



Eichiv. Faun. Casp. Cauc. 44. 



Schley el, F. Japan. 52. 

 Testudo Europsea, Schweiy. Schihlk. 323. 



