4 REPTILES. 



Fam. I. Land Tortoises, (Testudinid.e). 



Head ovate, shielded: jaws naked: nostril apical. Neck re- 

 tractile into the cavity of the shell. Feet short, club-shaped, arm- 

 ed with blunt claws. Shell very solid, thick, ovate, the ribs united 

 together to the margin, in the adult state covered with horny 

 concentrically grooved shields, marked with a permanent are- 

 ola : marginal plates 24 to 26, the caudal pair always united 

 together into one broad generally incurved plate. Sternum broad 

 and solid, closed in the centre of the adult, and firmly attached to 

 the thorax by a bony suture, covered by the end of the pectoral 

 and abdominal plates. Tail short and thick. They are slow in 

 their motion; eating vegetables and roots. In the colder climates 

 they burrow and sleep during the winter. 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



1. Testudo. Thorax and sternum solid : sternal plates 12; in- 



guinal plate moderate. Toes 5-4. 



2. Homopus. Thorax and sternum solid: sternal plates 12; in- 



guinal plates moderate. Toes 4-4. 



3. Chersina. Thorax and sternum solid: sternal plates 11. 



Toes 5-4. 



4. Kinixys. Thorax hinder part mobile : sternal plates 12 ; in- 



guinal plates very large. Toes 5-4. 



5. Pyxis. Thorax solid. Sternum front lobe moveable : sternal 



plates 12. 



1. Testudo, Linn. 



Thorax convex, subglobose, solid. Sternum solid, covered 

 with 12 sternal shields, the gular pair separate, inguinal shields 

 moderate. Head scaly, with 2 frontal shields above, and 1 ver- 

 tical shield between the eyes. Claws 5-4, blunt. 



A. The last vertebral shield almost always as wide as the caudal and 

 two hinder marginal plates. American. Gophers. 



The Gopher or Mungofa. Testudo Gopher, Bartram, Voy. 

 i. 55. T. Polyphemus, Hollbrook, Amer. Rep.i. 1. 1. Daud. R. i. 

 256. Gray, Syn. 5. Dam. $• Bib. E. G. ii. 105. Schw. Arch. Ko- 

 nisb.i. 317. T. depressa, Lesueur, Cuv. R. A. ii. 10. Guerin, Icon. 

 t.l.f.l. T. Carolina, Linn. Leconte, Ann. Lye. N. H. v. 97. 

 T. tabulata, Schoepf. t. 13 ? T. tabulata, var. Schlegel, F. Japon. 

 70. ?T. Schweigeri, Gray, Syn. 10. var. 



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. 



