102 Species of North American Tortoises. 



intermediate marginal plate narrow, linear, finely serrate be- 

 fore, with five or six small teeth, the rest all entire, oblong or 

 square, the ninth, tenth, and eleventh each projecting on its 

 posterior exterior angle beyond the succeeding one ; those 

 above the hind legs larger than the rest, and spreading. Ster- 

 num emarginate behind, and with the marginal plates beneath 

 red, varied, and spotted with dusky, the colors on the latter 

 more distinct : scapular plates triangular, projecting a little be- 

 yond the others at the exterior and anterior angle : brachial 

 plates triangular, with the apices truncate ; caudal plaies tri- 

 angular, with the posterior angles rounded, the rest quadran- 

 gular ; the femoral projecting at their posterior and exterior 

 angle beyond the caudal. Skin black ; head and sides of the 

 neck with some obscure lines of yellow ; throat with four lines of 

 red or yellow, one on each side lateral, the next commencing 

 at the chin and bifurcating a short distance from its origin, the 

 fourth commencing in the middle of the bifurcation and run- 

 ning along the middle of the throat. Lower jaw toothed, the 

 middle tooth the longest and largest, upper jaw hooked at the tip 

 and emarginate, as if to receive the middle tooth of the lower 

 jaw. Eyes yellow, with a broad, blaclr- stripe through the mid- 

 dle. Legs and tail scaly, striped and spotted with red : feet 

 palmate, five-toed ; claws 5-4. 



Plates of the margin, twenty-five ; of the sternum, twelve. 



Length eleven inches, height four inches. 



Inhabit in rivers from New-Jersey to Virginia, chiefly, I 

 believe, in such as are rocky ; in the Delaware, near Trenton, 

 they are very numerous. This species has been described by 

 Mr. Say as the Emys serrata, to which it has no resemblance, 

 none of the marginal plates being serrate, and the back 

 being destitute of a keel. Is eaten, and considered as tolerably 

 good. 



