350 Report uf the Transactions of the Academy of 



who has rendered the greatest services to science by describing 

 in his attractive style the manners and habits of American 

 birds, and who has corrected so many errors of former writers, 

 has, nevertheless, unavoidably conmiitted some himself, prin- 

 cipally of nomenclature, which are in a great measure attri- 

 butable to a want of the necessary books and opportunities of 

 comparison. So far, therefore, from being censurable for these 

 errors, we are surprised that he has not committed more." 



Reptilia. — By the indefatigable zeal of Dr. Harlan and 

 Mr. Say, this order of animals, which had previously attracted 

 but a small share of the Academy's attention, has been the 

 subject of six communications, five of which were offered by 

 Dr. Harlan, and one by Mr. Say. They are entitled as fol- 

 lows: 1st, " Observations on the genus Salamandra, with the 

 anatomy of the S. gigantea of Barton, or S. allcglianiensis of 

 Michaux, and proposals for establishing two new genera." 

 2nd, " Description of two new species of the Linnaean Lacerta, 

 with a proposal to form a new subgenus under the name of 

 Cyclura, to include the Cyclura carinata and C. teres" 3rd, 

 " Description of a new species of biped Seps." 4th, " De- 

 scriptions of two new species of Agama." 5th, " Description 

 of a new species of Scincus." Of these five communications by 

 Dr. Harlan, your secretary can offer no account, as the first 

 has been withdrawn by the author, with the consent of the 

 Academy, and the four others are still in the hands of the 

 Committee of Examination. 



Mr. Say's 'observations " On the fresh- water and land Tor- 

 toises of the United States" are liighly important, as they 

 tend to establish some order in a subject which has hitherto 

 been very obscure. Mr. Say admits the existence in America 

 of fifteen species of tortoises ; viz. one of the genus Testudo, 

 nine of the genvis Emys, three species of Cistuda, one of Chelo- 

 nura^ and one species of the genus Trionyx. Of these, four- 

 teen had been described by other authors, but in such a man- 

 ner as to require revision and comparison. This our author 

 has effectually done, and has added a new species of Emys, 

 which he names the higuttata, whose distinctive characters are 

 an oblong oval shell, slightly contracted in the middle, each 

 side ; anterior marginal scuta very narrow, linear ; two large 

 fulvous spots on the occiput; superior jaw emarginate; the 

 inferior jaw acute ; the tail rather long and simple. This is a 

 small tortoise, which appears not to be common, as Mr. Say 

 has seen but few individuals of it. It is an inhabitant of this 

 vicinity. 



Pisces. — This department has always been well cultivated 

 in the Academy, owing to tlie valuable contributions of Mr. 



Lcsiiciir, 



