8 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
GENUS CHELONURA. Fleming. 
Head large, with small plates. Both jaws strongly hooked. Sternum small, cruciform, 
immovable. Tail long, and furnished with a scaly or tuberculated crest. Anterior feet 
with five claws ; posterior with four. 
Oss. This genus is identical with the Emysauwrus of Dumeril & Bibron, Rapara of Gray, 
and Saurochelys of Latreille. The Chelydra of Schweigger appears to have been founded 
on the young of the C. serpentina. I am acquainted with but one species in the United States. 
Dr. Harlan, in his Medical and Physical Researches, has indicated the existence of another 
from Tennessee, but has given no detailed description. 
THE SNAPPING TURTLE. 
CHELONURA SERPENTINA, 
PLATE Ill. FIG.6. Youne. 
Testudo serpentina. LL. Syst. p. 354. 
T. id. Davupin, Vol. 2, p. 98, pl. 20, fig, 2. 
Chelonura serpentina. Say, Acad. Nat. Se. Vol. 4, p. 217. 
Chelydra lacertina. Scuwei1cc. Monog. (Young.) 
Testudo serpentina. Lx C. Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y. Vol. 3, p. 127. 
Emys (Chelydra) serpentina. Gray, Synopsis Rept. apud Griff. Cuv. Vol. 9, p. 14. 
Chelydra serpentina. Hari, Med. & Phys. p. 157. 
Emysaurus id. DoumeriL & Bis. Vol. 2, p. 350. 
Emysaurus id. Storer, Mass. Rep. p. 212. 
Chelonura id. Hoxsrook, Am. Herp. Vol. 4, p. 21, pl. 3; and Vol.1, p. 139, pl. 23, of the 2d Ed 
Characteristics. Shell oval, more or less carinate, three-toothed on its posterior margin. Upper 
jaw hooked, acute. Head long and wide. Snout attenuated. Length 
2-4 feet. 
Description. Shell oval, little elevated, with a dorsal ridge produced by the elevation of the 
posterior margin of the vertebral plates. Five vertebral, eight lateral and twenty-five marginal 
plates. The first lateral plate triangular, with its outer base rounded ; the remainder sub- 
quadrate, the posterior smallest. ‘The marginal plates small, oblong, and gradually enlarging 
on the sides ; the posterior largest, and of these, three and occasionally four with strong spi- 
nous angles. The vertebral plates are quadrate, except the last, which is pentagonal. Sternum 
composed of ten plates; the anterior pair small, the two following pair gradually larger. ‘The 
wing or supplementary plates long and narrow, united to the marginal plates by two small 
plates ; these wing plates are attached beneath to the pectoral and femoral pair. Caudal - 
plates long, narrow and triangular. Head exceedingly large, scaly above. Skin of the neck 
loose, and thickly covered above with fleshy warts, somewhat smoother beneath. Jaws stout, 
the upper jaw largest. Legs robust. Fore feet covered above by series of scales, of which 
those on the posterior edge are largest. Hind legs with similar large scales beneath. Toes 
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