454 FOSSIL TURTLES OF NORTH AMERICA, 
Testudo pertenuis Cope. 
Fig. 609. 
Testudo pertenuis, Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1892, p. 226; 4th Ann. Report Geol. Surv. Texas, 
1892 (1893), p. 47, figs. 1, 2.—Hay, Bibliog. and Cat. Foss. Vert. N. A., 1902, p. 451.—GIDLEy, 
Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., x1x, 1903, p. 627.—Montcome_ry, Biol. Bull., vitt, 1904, p. 57- 
The type and only known specimen belongs to the University of Texas. It was discovered 
by Professor Cope in the year 1892, in the Blanco beds of the Pliocene, near Mount Blanco, 
Crosby County, Texas. Of this species the writer 
found in the University of Texas only three 
or four large fragments which had been glued 
to sheets a paper. These fragments may or 
may not belong tothetype. The thickened por- 
tions of the anterior and posterior lobes of the 
plastron appear not to have been preserved. 
It seems probable that the type was injured 
before being returned to the collection at Austin. 
Under the circumstances, nothing more can be 
done than to republish Cope’s description and 
his apparently more or less diagrammatic illus- 
tration (fig. 609). In this figure, 1 represents 
the carapace and part of the front of the plas- 
tron seen from above. The other part of the 
figure, 2, shows the hinder lobe of the plastron as 
seen from above. 
Founded on a large specimen measuring three 
and a half feet in length by three in width, and re- 
markable for the transverse width of the vertebral 
dermal scuta. The carapace is rather flat and 
descends steeply posteriorly, the anal marginal bone 
— being somewhat incurved. Margins of carapace flare 
outwards above the legs. The plastron has a rather 
wide lip, with flat base and straight lateral borders; 
its anterior border is lost. The posterior lobe is 
deeply and widely notched, terminating on each side 
in a subequilateral angular prominence. Both cara- 
c.s. 1, first costal scute; ent, entoplastron; epi, epiplastron; — pace and plastron are without sculpture, the poste- 
0-5. 2) Uess 5 first and fifth vertebral scutes. From rior angles of the plastron only being longitudinally 
Cope’s figure. , i A 
grooved below. The vertebral scuta are considerably 
wider than long, as is also the anal scutum. Both carapace and plastron are very thin, not exceeding 
one-quarter inch in the specimen described, except at the borders. 
2 
Fic. 609.—Testudo pertenuis. X's. 
MFASUREMENTS. 
Feet. Feet. 
Length over all Ay te Length of last costal . Renee ene 
Width over all 4 Width of lip of plastron at fy tye coders : 8 
Width of penultimate dorsal scute 1.275 Width of anterior lobe at axilla. 2 
Length: -.5<-c0tnans- 285 Width of posterior lobe of plastron a at base. sn 
Width of last vertebral scute Lisi Width at fundus of median notch. F : RE 
Width of anal scute. 1.5 Width at apices of angular processes. . eee 85 
engthe eee .6 Depthyof notch. «0.2.22 «00 -. Somes) 
Length of penultimate costal scute 9 
This is the largest species of land-tortoise yet known from North America. 
In its broad, deprest shell, with its broad vertebral scutes, this species appears to have 
resembled somewhat 7. pansa, of the Pawnee Miocene. It differs, however, in several im- 
portant respects. The carapace of 7. pertenurs is said to descend steeply behind and to have 
the pygal somewhat incurved. In 7. pansa the rear of the shell slopes gradually downward 
and backward, and the pygal is not at all incurved. The shell of 7. pertenuzs is stated to have 
the borders flaring over the limbs, a condition not true in 7. pansa. The vertebral scutes of 
