TESTUDINID&. 45 
Ww 
Testudo turgida Cope. 
Testudo turgida, Corr, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., xxx, 1892, p. 127; Amer. Naturalist, xxv1, 1892, p. 50; 
3d Ann. Report Geol. Surv. Texas, 1891 (1892), p. 255; 4th Ann. Report Geol. Surv. Texas, 1892 
(1893), p. 47-—Hay, Bibliog. and Cat. Foss. Vert. N. A., 1902, p. 452.—GrpLey, Bull. Amer. 
Mus. Nat. Hist., x1x, 1903, p. 627. 
The type specimen of the present species belongs to the University of Texas. It was 
discovered in the Blanco beds of the Pliocene, near Espuella, Dickens County, Texas. No 
figures of the species have ever been publisht. The writer examined the materials in the 
collection at the University of Texas, at Austin, but was not able to find Cope’s type of the 
species. Remains of two or three other specimens of the species are in the collection, but a 
description of them would add little to what Cope has recorded. This author’s description 
is here reproduced. That found in the Third Annual Report, as cited above, is identical with 
that found in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. It runs as follows: 
This species is represented by the greater part of a chelonite of about the size of the Xerobates agassizit 
of Arizona. It is remarkable for the remarkable depth of the dermal sutures and sculpture lines, and 
for the swollen character of the interspaces which separate both. The general shape is a short, wide 
oval, with steep to vertical margins. 
The plastron is widely emarginate posteriorly, and the anal-femoral dermal sutures form a deep 
notch in the border. The anal scuta are oblique rhomboids, with equal and nearly parallel sides. The 
median longitudinal dermal suture is deep and wide, cutting half through the thickness of the plastron. 
It sends off a branch on each side bounding the gular plates in front. The part of the plastron inclosed 
in the latter forms two flattened cones appressed together, whose vertical diameter exceeds the transverse, 
and whose subconic apices are separated by a deep notch. The interclavicular bone is very large and 
is wide diamond-shaped, the anterior angle being larger than the posterior. The transverse humero- 
pectoral suture is very deep, and is similar to the median longitudinal. The borders of the anterior lobe 
are strongly convex, with a chord only twice as long as the lateral border of the gular plates. 
The nuchal bone has a strongly concave-emarginate border. On the posterior vertebral bones 1s a 
seat-like cavity, which is surrounded by a ridge which forms the greater part of a circle. The costal bones 
are unequally divided by the costal dermal sutures, which are very deep. Each costal scutum is divided 
into two areas, one of which is marked with ribs parallel to the vertebral axis at one extremity and a 
seat-shaped plane with a bordering ridge at the other, which is in some of the costals smaller and more 
swollen. The other half or part of the scutal area is swollen in the longitudinal direction, but not for 
its entire length. The marginal bones are massive and have a subacute border between the bridge and 
the median points. They are much deeper than long, and are deeply divided by the sutures which 
separate the dermal marginals. These grooves cut the margin into deep notches at some points and into 
lower ones at others. The areas between these sutures are all swollen in the same way as the alternate 
parts of the costal plates. 
MEASUREMENTS. 
Millimeters. Millimeters. 
Length of plastron anterior to posterior angle of Diameters of free marginal near bridge: 
TTECECG AV IGL@tetaccayertesy leds crieicie ee fale are 80 Antero-pOSstérior diecrocns ace sedcetinenes 2s 20 
Width of plastron anterior to posterior angle of Vertical! 2 ccacciadéicseca 0 eats sarnaaatrasion 34 
interclavicle.......... F ‘ ‘ 112 Transverse below......... Lee wssae ase) 2S 
Length of interclavicle..... oeren HeeA0) Diameters of marginal of bridge: 
Width of interclavicle.... 58 Antero-posterior ........ : ees 
Thickness of interclavicle. . — : II Vertical ....... cece . : waits 4a 
Length of free lateral margin of gular plate . 29 WPransverse:belowine sc 00 sees ser Sez 
Width of base of both gular plates... 45 Diameters of penultimate vertebral bones: 
Length of xiphiplastral bone. . eer) Antero-posterior .......... on 17 
Width of xiphiplastral bone on anterior suture 53 Transverse - anid 30 
Width of emargination of posterior lobe of plastron 50 
The American tortoise which has produced gular areas somewhat like those of this species is the 
Testudo cultrata Cope of the White River Neocene of Colorado. That species is however, totally 
different in the dermal sutures of the usual character, flat marginals, etc., and the gular processes are 
not conic, but trihedral in form. 
The specimen above described comes from Espuella, near Dockum, from the same horizon as 
that of Crosby County, or the Blanco beds of Cummins. 
In the Fourth Annual Report, as cited in the synonymy, Professor Cope stated that 
specimens of this species were found together at one locality, which did not yield any other 
vertebrate remains. Fragments of 2 other individuals were found at other localities in direct 
association with Mammalia. 
