Baur.] 4^^ [Jau. 1, 



(5) Terrapene — 



" Digit! distincti, unguibus acutis. 

 Rostrum corneum. 

 Sterni lobo anteriore, aut utroque mobili." 



Two years later, in 1823, Fleming established the genus Cistuda* 

 for the tortoises, in which the entrance to the cavity is formed by a lid. 

 Gistud(( is simply a synonym of Merrem's Terrapene, and has to be aban- 

 doned therefore. 



In 1825, Gray! follows Merrem, adopting the genera Emys and Terrapene 

 (written Terraphene) ; " Cistuda Say" is declared a synonym of Terra- 

 pene. 



In the same year Bell % published an important paper not mentioned by 

 Prof Vaillant, in which he shows that T. europaa Schneid. {orhicularis 

 L.) has to be included in " Terrapene Merrem, Cistuda Say." He says of 

 T. orbicularis L. : "On examining sometime since a shell of this species, 

 the first I had seen, which had lost the sternum, I was strucli with the 

 appearance of the articular surface from which that part had been re- 

 moved, and immediately concluded that it must belong to the present 

 group, having a movable breastplate, notwithstanding Merrem, to 

 whom belongs the credit of having separated the ' Box Tortoises ' under 

 his subgeneric division Terrapene, retains this species amongst his 

 Emydes, the character of which, on contradistinction to Terrapene, is 

 that the sternum is entire and fixed. On consulting SchopfF, I found 

 that, with his usual accuracy, that author had mentioned the movable 

 structure of the sternum, and subsequent observations have established 

 my first conjecture that it belongs to this genus." 



Now this leaves no doubt wliatever that from 1S25 the name Emys could 

 not be applied to T. orbicularis L., but that this species belonged to Terrapene ; 

 and since Terrapene Merrem is the s<(me as Oppel's subdivision, loith Emys 

 lutaria as type, this species, which is now known as E. orbicularis L., has 

 to be considered the type of Terrapene. 



Gray § follows Bell in 1831, but uses now the name Cistuda of Fleming, 

 which he calls Cistuda Gray, not Cistudo as remarked by Prof. Vaillant. 



* It is difficult to say whether this name Cistuda is a misprint or not. It could either 

 stand for Cistula, from cista, the diminutivum of cista, wliich means a small box, or for 

 Cistudo, formed in the same way as Tcstudo from testa. It seems that Dumih-il and Bib- 

 ron introduced the name Cistudo for the first time in 1885. 



t Gray, John Edward, "A Synopsis of the Genera of Keptiles and Amphibia," "Ann. 

 of Philos.." Vol. ix, pp. 210-212, London, 1825. 



tBell, Thomas, "A Monograph of the Tortoises, having a Movable Sternum, with 

 Remarks on their Arrangement and AtRnities," Zodiac/. Journ., Vol. ii, i)p. 299-310, 

 London, 1825. 



g Gray, J. E., "A Synopsis of the Species of the Class Reptilia," p. 7 ; published as 

 Appendix to Vol. ix of Cuvier's "Animal Kingdom," edited by Edward Griffith, 

 London, 1831. In the same year appeared another separate edition, with additions: 

 Gray, John Edward, "Synopsis Reptilium, or Short Descriptions of the Species of 

 Reptiles," London, 1831. The original paper was written October, 1830 ; the second 

 edition of it in January, 1831. 



