TESTUDINID-ffi. 



461 



3 neurals. The median vertebral scutes of this individual must have been about 240 mm. 

 long and about 300 mm. wide. A costal bone (fig. 620) very similar to this was figured by Dr. 

 Leidy in F. S. Holmes's Post-Pliocene Fossils of South Carolina, plate xxviii, fig. i. This 

 was secured from the Ashley River deposits and its age is uncertain. It now belongs to the 

 American Museum of Natural History. Its size is almost the same as that of the costal just 

 described. The thickness is 33 mm. It appears to belong to the present species, and to furnish 

 evidence that T. crassiscutata lived during the time when T. (Eupachemys) obtusa existed. 

 On the other hand, Dr. Leidy (Trans. Wagner Free Instit., II, p. 29) mentions the finding, 

 among bones collected at Peace Creek, Florida, of a peripheral that resembled that forming 

 the type of T. obtusa. There is no certainty that T. obtusa and T. crassiscutata are not one and 

 the same species, but for the present it may be better to regard them as distinct. With the 

 neurals and the costal of No. 4693 of the U. S. National Museum there is a posterior peripheral. 

 Its fore-and-aft extent is 115 mm. The height, following the curvature, is 220 mm. It 

 curves upward as the free border is approacht. This border is acute. The greatest thickness of 

 the bone is 35 mm. Prof. F. W. Putnam has given to the American Museum of Natural 

 History some turtle bones that were dredged in the Alifia River, Florida. The beds are 

 probably of the same age as the Peace Creek beds. Among these is a large peripheral, the 

 length of which along the free border is 148 mm. Fig. 621 represents a section of this bone. 



621. 622^. 



FIGS. 621 AND 622. Testudo crassiscutata 



62211. 



621. Section across a hinder peripheral. Xj. No. 6094 A. M. N. H. 



622. Left epiplastral of young individual. X. a, upper surface; b, section of symphysis; c, lower surface. 



As will be seen, it is much turned upward toward the free border. The thickness is 35 mm. 

 The free edge is acute. It is possible that the obtuse peripheral forming the type of T. obtusa 

 belonged to the anterior part of the carapace, while the acute-edged peripherals just described 

 belonged posteriorly. Another peripheral from the Alifia River has a thickness of 48 mm. 

 Its free border is eroded away; but as far as represented the upper surface is concave. 



The Jarman collection of fossil bones, made in Hillsboro County, Florida, and now in 

 Vanderbilt University, contains a left epiplastron which is referred with some doubt to this 

 species (fig. 622, a, b,c). If it is correctly identified it belongs to a relatively young and small 

 individual. The greatest length of the bone is 82 mm. ; the bone of type of the species was 270 

 mm. long. The feature in which the present specimen differs from that of the type is the great 

 thickness of the bone where it joined the epiplastron of the other side. In the type the greatest 

 thickness of the epiplastron is 70 mm. If the present specimen retained the same proportions 

 its thickness would be 21 mm. It is, however, 37 mm. thick. There is more or less variation 

 in these beaks among the Testudos and for the present it seems best to refer this specimen to 

 Leidy's species. In the same collection is a peripheral that appears to be the right ninth, with 

 the costal border broken away. This peripheral has a length of 154 mm. along the free border. 

 The greatest height of the bone, as preserved, is 186 mm. and this does not extend beyond the 



