TE8TUDINIDJE. 



533- 



FIGS. 532 AND 533. Testudo quadrata. Epiplastral lip and 

 nuchal of type. X J- 



532. Epiplastral lip, upper surface. 



533. Portion of nuchal bone. c.s. i, part of first costal scute; m. s. i, part 



of first marginal scute; nu. s, nuchal scute. 



All of the sulci present on the fragment are deeply imprest. 



The fragment of the nuchal (fig. 533) is not very instructive. It comes to an acute edge 

 in front, and thickens backward to 31 mm. Portions of 3 scutes are shown the nuchal, the 

 first peripheral, and the first vertebral. The nuchal had a length of 41 mm. Its width is 

 indeterminable, but exceeded 17 mm. On the lower side of the bone the nuchal scute was con- 

 siderably wider than above. 

 Nothing can be determined 

 regarding the dimensions of 

 the other scutes. The sulci 

 are deeply imprest and have 

 raised borders. 



In its abruptly projecting 

 lip this species resembles some- 

 what T . ligonia found in the 

 same region. The differences 

 are, however, very obvious. As 

 seen from the lower side of 

 the plastron, the gulo-humeral 

 sulci of T. ligonia, departing 

 from the free borders of the 

 epiplastra, run backward and inward at an angle of about 45 with the midline, to end on the 

 entoplastron. In T. quadrata the gulo-humeral sulci run across the epiplastra at a right angle 

 with the midline and do not touch the entoplastron. In T . ligonia the lip, as seen on the upper 

 side, continues backward on the epiplastra a distance even greater from a line joining the 

 anterior ends of the gulo-humeral sulci than it does in front of this line. In T. quadrata, on 

 the contrary, the lip extends behind the line mentioned a very short distance. 



Testudo cultrata Cope. 



Testudo cultratus, COPE, Palaeont. Bull. No. 15, 1873, p. 6; Synop. New Tent. Vert., 1873, p. 19; Ann. 



Kept. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. Terrs., 1873 (1874), p. 511; Vert. Tert. Form. West, 1884, pp. 



762, 763, plate Ixiii, figs. 1-3; Geol. Surv. Texas, 3d Ann. Kept., 1891 (1892), p. 256. 

 Testudo cultrata, HAY, Bibliog. and Cat. Foss. Vert. N. A., 1902, p. 451. 



The basis of this species is said by Professor Cope to have been two imperfect specimens 

 found by him in 1873, in the White River deposits, at the head of Horse Tail Creek, in north- 

 eastern Colorado. The level is that of the Oreodon beds, the middle of the White River. 

 The specimens described by this author have not yet been found in the Cope collection in the 

 American Museum nor in the U. S. National Museum. For this reason, it is thought best to 

 reproduce here Cope's description. 



Parts of two individuals of this species were obtained by my expedition of 1873. 



This is the smallest of the five species of Testudo, having about the average size of the Stylemys 

 nebrascensis. This is indicated by the costal and marginal bones which accompany the portions of 

 plastron of both specimens. The width of the lip at the base is also less than that of any of the other 

 species, but the length and thickness are remarkable as compared with the other dimensions. The width 

 and thickness at the base of the lip are nearly equal; both dimensions diminish to the apex, which is 

 obtusely acuminate. The superior face of the lip is gently convex in both dimensions. The inferior 

 surface is plane anteroposteriorly; transversely it rises to the external edge, which is subacute. The 

 suture of the gular scutum is directed posteriorly, giving the usual triangular form. The thickness of 

 the lip is abruptly reduced above, where the surface descends to the mesosternal bone. 



The lip of one of the specimens is fissured deeply, in an eccentric manner, on both sides of central 

 core. Whether this or the unfissured. condition is characteristic of the species or not, is uncertain. It 

 appears to be homologous with the dentation in the lip of T. laticuneus. 



The marginal bones are robust, and are much thickened below. The edges of those of the posterior 

 margin are acute, while those of the anterior border are obtuse, thus differing from those of T. laticuneus, 

 where they are acute. At the points where the dermal sutures reach the margin, both specimens are 

 unfortunately broken in every instance, so that the question of notches or mucros can not be decided. 

 The costal bones are moderately thick, and alternate in width, narrower and wider. The dermal sutures 



