PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 435 



The phrase quoted is as follows: "Testudo tcssellata minor caroliniana, 

 Edw. An. 205, t. 205."* On the same page in Edwards' work on which 

 this phrase occurs, the following descrij^tion (if we may trust the ac- 

 curacy of Holbrookt) is given: "The lower shell is divided across the 

 middle of the belly and joined to the upper shell on the sides by a tough 

 flexible skin, by means of which it can, when it draws in its head and 

 legs, close up its shell, as firmly as that of an oyster. | It is evident 

 that this description was taken from a specimen of the box tortoise, 

 denominated Cistudo clausa in Cope's check-list, § but which should 

 undoubtedly receive the name Cistudo Carolina. 



It does not seem probable that Linne would have confounded two 

 species so distinct as the box tortoise and the gopher, if he had had defi- 

 nite information regarding the latter. He was undoubtedly misled by 

 the imperfection of Seba's iigure, and made to believe that it portrayed 

 the same animal which Edwards had described. 



That it may appear still more clearly that Linne's T. Carolina is the 

 box tortoise, I will quote the pertinent paragraph from Miiller's Linne's 

 Systeraa Naturae, a translation of the 12th edition, in which extended 

 descriptions of many animals are given. The author states in his 

 preface that he has had access to much of the material which Linne 

 had elaborated. The description of Testudo Carolina is as follows: 



"11. The Carolina Tortoise. Testudo Carolina. — This animal is 

 named from its native country, but is also called Turapin by the En- 

 glish, and Terrapeu by the Spaniards. It is smaller than the preceding 

 species [T. graeca], and is as much tessellated, but in six-cornered pieces, 

 and is still further distinct in that it has no tail. The color of the 

 l)lates is dark brown, abundantly sprinkled with yellow patches of 

 different sizes. The plastron is likewise different from that of the 

 former animal, for it is cleft in the middle, and is attached to the upper 

 shield on the sides only by skin so that it can be closed when the 

 animal would hide himself entirely. The head is yellow and provided 

 with scales, similar ones also being on the fore feet; the long neck and 

 the hind feet are of bluish flesh-color. As regards the claws, there 

 are five on the fore feet and four on the hind feet, as in the preceding 

 species." II This description, taken apparently from a very well pre- 

 served specimen, and coming as it does before Gmelin's unfortunate 

 additions, leaves little doubt but that the box tortoise should bear 

 the name Testudo (or Cistudo) Carolina. In this opinion I am sup- 

 ported by Holbrook, Dumeril, Strauch, Say, Harlan, and Gray, while 

 Le Conte, Louis Agassiz, and Cope, at least in his check-list, entertain 



*Linn. Syst. Nat,, 10th ed., 1758, p, 198. 

 t Holbrook, N. A. Herpetology, Istetl., i, 1836, p. 45. 



t Edwards, G. A natural history of uncommon birds, and of some other rare and 

 nondescribed animals (= Linne's "Edw. An."). London, 1743-51, p. 205. 

 $ Cope, Bull. U. S. Nat. Museum, No. 1, 1875, p. 53. 

 II Miiller, P. L. S. Des Linn^ VoUstiindiges Natursystem, Third Part, 1774, pp. 44-45. 



