PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 44*7 



Ga.; Clear Water, Fla. (1G057); Homossasa, Fla. (10009-70); Gaines- 

 ville, Fla. (10471), and BroYrnsville, Tex. (8926), together with others 

 labeled Bast Florida (7554-55-57). I have a memoranduui in my j3os- 

 session stating that Mr. G. Brown Goode shipped 19 specimens of this 

 animal, collected in the vicinity of Arlington, Fla., to the zoological gar- 

 dens in Philadelphia. Bartram found traces of them south of the Sa- 

 vannah Eiver, in Georgia and Florida. Holbrook states that they are 

 numerous in Edgefield and Barnwell districts (S. C), whence they extend 

 through Georgia, Alabama, and the Floridas, and that, "According to 

 Le Sueur, they are brought to the Xew Orleans market, though proba- 

 bly not from the immediate neighborhood."* Wailes knew of their 

 existence in the southern part of Mississippi. 



From these data it would appear that Xerobates polypJwmus inhabits 

 all the drier portions of the Austroriparian region, from Southern South 

 Carolina to the Kio Grande del Norte, with the exception, perhaps, of 

 Southern Florida. Furthermore, Gray was informed of its introduction 

 into Cuba, where, according to Mr. W. S. MacLean, it " lives in domes- 

 tication."! 



Distribution of Agassiz's Tortoise. — Of the species Xerobates 

 Agassizii the U. S. National Museum has specimens from Fort Mohave, 

 Ariz. (671S); Dr. Cooper's types from the Solado Valley, Cal. (7888), and 

 from Fort Yuma, Cal. (10398-99, 10412). 



The distribution of this tortoise, therefore, must be limited for the 

 present to the southern, sandy desert portions of California and Arizona. 



Distribution of Berlandier's Tortoise. — TesUido Berlandieri 

 was described by Agassiz from specimens from Northern Mexico. Ber- 

 landier writes : "It inhabits the i^lains of Tamaulipas between Mata- 

 moras and San Fernando de las Presas. At Laredo, on the banks of 

 the Rio Bravo, this tortoise forms an important article of diet for the 

 soldiers of the presidios when crossing the deserts." Cope, as we have 

 seen, knew of specimens from San Antonio, Tex., and of the occurrence 

 of the animal in the southwestern part of that State generally. 



Its distribution, therefore, would seem to be limited to the lower 

 regions of Texas and northeastern Mexico, between the twenty-fifth and 

 thirtieth parallels. 



lY. SYNOPSIS OF THE SPECIES. 



Terrestrial; horizontal alveolar surface of the upper jaw with two 

 ridges; an interval at the symphysis, occupied by a transverse ridge; 

 a notch in the lower jaw fitting over the transverse ridge. Anterior 

 extremities more or less comj)ressed in the antero -posterior direction ; 

 posterior extremities clavate ; nails 5:4 Xerobates. 



* Holbrook, N. A. Herp., 1st ed., i, 1836, p. 44. 



t Aan. and Mag. Nat. History, 1st series, v, 1840, p. 115. 



