xii PREFACE. 



all those of the mnsenm of the University of Ann Ai'bor, in Michigan ; and, through the 

 kindness of Professor Poey of the University of Havana, 1 have been able to compare 

 the Turtles of the island of Cuba with those of the continent of North America. Prof. 

 Jeffries Wyman has allowed mo, with the same liberality, the free use of the preparations 

 relating to Turtles contained in tlie museum of Comparative Anatomy of our University. 

 I have also received valuable specimens for comparison from the museum of the Essex 

 Institute, in Salem. 



Among private individuals \\ho have largely contributed to my collection of Turtles, I 

 have to mention, first, Mr. Winthrop Sargent, of Natchez. Not satisfied with collecting 

 extensively the Turtles in the neighborhood of his residence, he undertook a journey 

 of many hundred miles for the special purpose of securing all the species living in the 

 adjoining regions, and, having completed the survey, set out with a cargo of living Tur- 

 tles, and brought them safely alive to me in Cambridge, after a journey of over a thou- 

 sand miles. Such devotion to the interests of science, on the part of a gentleman who 

 is not himself a naturalist, deserves more than a passing notice. To him I am indebted 

 for the opportunity of studying several species, alive, which have probably never been seen 

 before, by any naturalist, in a fresh state. 



It would be difficult for me to convey an adequate idea of the value of all the different 

 contributions I have received for this part of my work. In some instances they consisted 

 perhaps of a few specimens of well-known species, but then they came from regions where 

 their presence had not been ascertained before ; or the specimens were so numerous as to 

 afford ample opportunity to determine the range of their variations; or there were among 

 them, young ones, in a state of development not before observed. Yet I may well say, 

 that, however numerous have been the invoices of Turtles which I received from the differ- 

 ent States, not one was superfluous ; and I have frequently regretted that I could not ob- 

 tain more, for there are still several species, the eggs or the young of which I have not 

 been able to get. 



The better to show to what extent these specimens were sufficient satisfactorily to 

 determine the geographical distribution of our Turtles, 1 will enumerate them in geographi- 

 cal order. From the British Provinces, my information was chiefly derived from collections 

 and notices sent me by Mr. M. H. Perley, of St. John, and Mr. Wm. Couper, of Toronto. 

 In New England, I have myself collected largely ; but I have also received valuable contri- 

 butions from the late Rev. Zadock Thompson, of Burlington ; from Mr. James E. Mills, 

 of Bangor ; from the late Dr. W. I. Burnett, of Boston ; from Capt. N. Atwood, of Province- 

 town ; from RL-. D. Henry Thoreau, of Concord; from Mr. F. W. Putnam, of Salem; from 

 Mr. Sidney Brooks, of Harwich ; from Mr. Sanborn Tenney, of Auburndale ; and from Mr. J. 

 W. P. Jenks, of Middleboro'. Messrs. Tenney and Jenks have repeatedly sent me the Tur- 

 tles of our neighborhood by hundreds. From the State of New York, I have received speci- 



