CATALOGUE OF SHIELD REPTILES. 



roots ; living in woods or fields in warm and temperate 

 parts of the world. lu colder climates they burrow, and 

 sleep during the winter. 



In the genus Testudo the sternum is quite solid, but in 

 some specimens of T. inauritiana, T. marginata, and Ho- 

 rmpns areolatus, the hinder lobe has been observed to be 

 moveable. On this account Dr. Wagler has separated the 

 former into a genus, under the name of Cherseus. But it 

 may be only a peculiarity of the females when they are about 

 to deposit their eggs, and will probably, when these animals 

 have been more obser\'ed, be found common to the females 

 of all the species. 



A. The last vertebral shield almost always as ^vide as the 

 caudal and two hinder marginal plates. American. 

 Gophers. 



Gophers, Gray, Cat. Rept. B. M. 4. 



1. Testudo Gopher. The Gopher or Mongofa. 

 Shell oblong, depressed ; shields pale brown, grooved ; 

 nuchal shield broad ; sternum produced in front, deeply 

 nicked behind ; pectoral shields short ; head and cheeks 

 covered with scales ; tail very short. 



Gopher, Barf ram' s Tracels, i. 55. 



La Tortue gopher, Bosc, N. Diet. H. N. xi. 269, 



?T. tessellata, Merrem, Tent. 31. 



Testudo Gopher, Gray, Cat. Rept. B. M. 4. 



T. Pol3'phemus, HoUbrook, Amer. Rept. i. t. 1 . 



Say, Jonrn. A. N. S. Phil. iv. 204, 207. 



Baud. Rept. i. 256. 



Gray, Syn. 1 1 . 



Bum. f Bib. Erp. Gin. ii. 105 ; Cat. Meth. 5. 



Schweigger, Arch. Kcenigsb. i. 317. 



Bonap. Tesfud. Europ. et Amer. 152. 

 T. depressa, Lesueur, Cuv. R. A. ii. 10. 



Guerin, Icon. t. 1. f. I. 

 T. Carolina, Litin. Syst. Nat. 



Leconte, Ann. Lye. N. H. iii. 97. 

 T. tabulata, Schoepff. 56. t. 13? 

 T. tabulata, var., Schlegel, F. Japon. 70. 

 1 T. Schweiggeri, Gray, Syn. 10. var., in Griffith, A. K. iv. 7. 



Bum. Sr Bib. Erp. Gen. ii. 108 ; Cat. M. R. 5. 



Hab. North America ; ,pine forests of Georgia and 

 Florida. 



Specimens in British Museum : — 



a. Adult, brown ; 8|- inches. N. America. Presented by 



Richard Harlan, M.D. 



b. Adult, brown ; 10| Laches. N.America. Presented by 



Edward Doubleday, Esq. 



c. Adult, blackish. N. America ; Mexico. Mr. Warwick's 



Collection. 



d. Adult, blackish. North America. M. Parzudaki's Col- 



lection. 



2. Testudo tabulata. The Brazilian Tortoise. 

 Shell subquadrate, oblong, depressed, sides contracted 

 when adult ; shields black, grooved, areola small, nuchal 

 plate none ; animal red or yellow, spotted. 



Testudo tabulata. Wall. Chelon. 70. t. 22. 



Baud. Rept. i. 242. 



Gray, Syn. 10 ; Cat. Rept. B.M. 5. 



Bell, Test. t. 1, 2. 



TJ^agler, Syn. t. 6. f. 9, t. . f. 1-8. f. 45, 48 ; Cat. 

 Mi-th. R. 5 ; Neuw. Abbild. t. 



Bum. ^ Bib. Erp. Gin. ii. 89. 

 T. Hercules, Spix, Bra::, t. 14. 



Gray, Syn. 9. 

 T. Boiei, Wagler, Amphib. t. 6. f. 7, 8 ; Icones Amphib. 



t. 13. 

 T. denticulata, Schoepf. t. 28. f. 1. 

 T. caibonaria, Spix, t. 16. 



Bell, Test. t. 1, 2. 



Dumeril et Bibroii, Erp. Gin. ii. 99; Cat. Mith. 

 R. 5. 

 T. tessellata, Schneider, Schoepff . t. 12. f. 2, t. 13; Neuw. 



Abbild. t. 

 T. Cagado, Spix, Braz. t. 1 7. 

 T. sculpta, Spix, Braz. t. 18. 

 T. Grseca, Her in. Obs. Zool. 

 T. erosa, Schweigger. 

 T. gigantea, Schweigger ? 

 T. foveolata, Licht. Berl. Acad. 251 (1820). 

 Sphargis mercurialis, Schinz, t. 8. f. 1 ! not Merrem. 

 The Brazilian Tortoise, Gray, I. c. 5. 



Hab. America; Brazils; Cayenne; Guadaloupe ; Chili. 



a, b, c. Adult (stuffed). South America. 



d. Adult (stuffed). South America. Presented by the 



Zoological Society. 



e. Half-grown, with only eleven marginal scales (stuffed). 



West Indies. Presented by John Gould, Esq. 



f, g. Half-grown and young. South America. 



Osteology. Wiedemann, Arch. Zool. ii. 181. 



h, i,j, k, I, m, n, o. Shell only (adult and young). South 

 America. 



p, q, r. Skeletons (half-grown). South America. 



This species differs in appearance according to the state 

 of the surface of the shell. When perfect the surface is 

 black, with small yellow impressed areolas to the plates 

 surrounded with deep concentric grooves ; but the surface is 

 often more or less worn, when the concentric furrows are 

 destroyed, the surface becomes smooth, and the small 

 areolas are obliterated. In this state it has been considered 

 a distinct species. The hinder vertebral plate is large, as 

 broad as the caudal, the hinder marginal and the half of 

 the second hinder marginal plate. In one specimen, which 

 has only eleven marginal plates on each side (the two liinder 

 being imited ?), the hmder vertebral is as wide as the cau- 

 dal and half the large hinder marginal plates. 



