Species of North American Tortoises. 13l 



The Em^s reticulata of Daudin is given to him, when it had 

 appeared under that name many years ago, in the works both 

 of Latreille and Daudin. 



Emys concinna, l. c. is quoted as synonymous with E. geo- 

 metrica of Le Sueur. It is not easy to discover what is meant 

 by this : if the E. geographica was intended, there is very Uttle 

 resemblance between the two species, and M. Le Sueur pro- 

 bably never saw the concinna. 



E. caiicentrica, is some other person's name for the palustris. 



E.pulchella of SchoepfFis totally distinct from the insculpta 

 of L. c. In the Museum of the king's garden at Paris is a decapi- 

 tated specimen of the insculpta which is labelled pulchella, but 

 it differs entirely from Schoepff's animal, and must have been 

 named by some person but little conversant with this family of 

 reptiles. The Emys odorata is likewise attributed to the author, 

 although he never has adopted Emys as a genus, and even if 

 he had, would not have placed this animal in it. 



Great names frequently give a currency to matters of little 

 importance which otherwise might have passed unnoticed. An 

 individual but little known, and living in a country remote from 

 the scientific capital of the world, might have felt flattered at 

 being noticed by one who is considered as the oracle of natural 

 science, but he would, at the same time, wish not to be misre- 

 presented. 



