PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 441 



might be added, but these will suffice, Itliiuk, to render the two species 

 readily distinguishable. The relative proportions of the fore and hind 

 feet is a matter of especial importance. 



History ot Xerobates Berlandieri. — The third species to be 

 considered is Xerohates Berlandieri Agassiz, the only published descrip- 

 tion of which is contained in Agassiz's Contributions to the Natural 

 History of the United States, volume i, page 447. The notice is so 

 short that I will quote it in full. It is as follows : "Xerobates ber- 

 landieri, Ag. The young is represented PL 3, tig. 17-19. It has a 

 small yellosv dot in the centre of the median and costal scales; the 

 marginal scales are only edged with yellow. The sternum is narrower 

 and more projecting in front than that of X. caroUnus ; in the adult it is 

 even forked. Behind it is broader and more turned downward. The 

 centre of the scales remains granular for a longer time. The gland of 

 the lower jaw is larger and more i^rominent. This species is smaller 

 than the preceding, and limited to southern Texas and Mexico. All 

 the specimens that I have seen were forwarded to me for examination 

 by the Smithsonian Institution. They were collected by the late Mr. 

 Berlandier, a zealous French naturalist, to whom we are indebted for 

 much of what we know of the natural histo'ry of northern Mexico."* 



The use of Berlandier's name in the denomination of this species is 

 A'ery appropriate, since that unfortunate naturalist was not only the 

 first to collect specimens of the tortoise, but was the first to describe it. 

 His manuscripts, deposited in the Smithsonian Institution, contain an 

 extended description of the animal, under the name Testudo tuherculata, 

 together with a carefully-drawn figure, and some notes on its distiibution. 



Mention of this animal occurs in later times in the writings of Strauch,t 

 Gray,i: Baird,§ and Cope,|| but, with the exception of the last two natural- 

 ists, all regard it merely as a synonym of X. polnpliemuH. Professor Baird 

 enumerates it among others as a separate species, giving the scientific 

 name which Agassiz has applied and the common name, "Texas Gopher." 

 Cope also employs Agassiz's name, and adds, "I obtained a specimen of 

 this laud tortoise, collected by Mr. Marnock in the southwestern part of 

 the State [Texas], where, according to that gentleman, it is common. 

 He has also found it near San Antonio. I did not meet with it on the 

 first ])lateau." That it is a separate species I think no one who has 

 compared the heads of the two can doubt. The following description 

 is intended to show that Berlandiei's Tortoise is a species entirely dis- 

 tinct from the gopher, and not merely a variety of the latter as Strauch 

 and some other writers have supposed. 



Description of Xerobaies Berlandieri. — Shell short and high, 

 slightlj' emarginate and revolute in front, strongly incurvated behind. 



* Agassiz, Cont. Nat. Hist. U. S., i, 1857, p. 447. 



t Strauch, Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Peterbonrg, vii scries, viii, 1865, article 13, p. 28. 



tGray, J. E., Proc. Zool. Soc. Loudon, 1873, p. 723. 



§ Baird, Herpetology Mex. Bouud. Survey, 1859, p. 4. 



11 Cope, Bull. U. S. N. Museum, No. 17, 1880, pp. 13 aud 47. 



