1906.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 113 



plates which are furnished with a deep notch on median Une. Epider- 

 mal plates of plastron smooth. 



Color in life. Carapace deep dusky, with perhaps faint or obscure 

 darker mottlings. Inferior portion of marginal plates of carapace of 

 the same shade of pale yellowish-brown as the plastron, though at each 

 sutiu-e a broad blackish blotch. These blotches are most distinct and 

 conspicuous on the bridge, those of posterior plates very narrow. Plas- 

 tron dull or pale yellowish-brown, and articulation of each plate with 

 a broad irregular blackish margin, at least anteriorly. Head, legs, 

 feet and tail pale-slaty or plumbeous, and former speckled or spotted 

 with a dark or dusky-slaty. On legs this is evident as each scale has a 

 dark or slaty center. Jaws whitish or of a whitish horn-color. Top of 

 head pale or light. Eye grayish. Claws horn-color, dark or brownish 

 above. 



Length of carapace 7^ inches. 



Type, No. 16,570, A. N. S. P. Boca Grande Key, Florida. June 

 18, 1904. H. W. Fowler. Clarence B. Moore Collection. 



This form is known to me only from the above described example, 

 which was collected in a pool among the mangroves of Boca Grande 

 Key together with Natrix. It did not appear to me to be especially 

 abundant on the islands we visited, whether for seclusive habits or other 

 reasons, I could not tell. It was reported from other islands within 

 the limits of our trip, however. As it is highly valued as food it is 

 much sought after. Provisionally, as a form of Malaclemmys littoralis 

 of Prof. Hay,^ from the Texas coasts, it may be recognized as a distinct 

 subspecies. Although he had a very large series of individuals, the 

 sutures of the marginal plates of the carapace are not described as 

 black, which is the case in the example before me. His figures do not 

 show this, and certainly the colored one of the adult is different. I 

 have recently had the opportunity of examining a large series of several 

 hundred living examples of Malaclemmys centrata (Latreille), through 

 Dr. Samuel G. Dixon, in the markets of Philadelphia. Most of these 

 were said to have been procured near Savannah, Georgia. Great 

 variations in color were noticed, some individuals approaching the 

 above described example very closely, wdiile others had perfectly 

 uniform plastrons, etc. Most of the variations, like those figm-ed under 

 Emys concentrica by Sowerby and Lear,* were found. 

 {Rhizophora, Mangrove.) 



' Bull. Bureau of Fish., XXIV, 1905, p. 18. 



« Tort. Terrap. Turt., 1872. Four figures referable to Pis. 33-55, and 36, are 

 not numbered in the copy before me. 

 8 



