1887.] MR. G. A. BOULKNGER ON EMYS BLANDINGII. 5.5.5 



odontoid bone and of the second centrum are deeply emargiiiate 

 inferiorly, terminating in two diverging tubercular processes exactly 

 as in Chelys. 



11. Notes on Einys blandingi'i. 

 By G. A. BouLENGERj F.Z.S. 



[Received June 20, 1887.] 

 (Plate L.) 



Two specimens, male and female, of the American Emi/s {E. 

 hlandingii, Holbr.) are now exhibited in tlie Society's iMenagerie, 

 and I liave availed myself of the opportunity for examining the 

 question of the validity of this species, which has recently been 

 contested, and for supplementing the only description which has 

 ever been given, viz. that of Holbrook in 1842. Subsequent 

 American authors, Lecoute, Agassiz, Cope, &c., have dropped 

 Holbrook's name in favour of Shaw's nielengris. But on referring 

 to Shaw's description and figure, and judging by the coloration 

 of the head, I am inclined to identify Testudo meleagris with tne 

 European Emys orbicularis. The reason which, no doubt, led to 

 the identification with E. hlandingii is Shaw's indication of the 

 habitat " America." However, the fact that Shaw, a few years later, 

 referred T. meleayris to the synonymy of T. europcea (ai-biculwis), 

 shows that the author himself did not believe in the accuracy of 

 that indication. 



Emys hlandingii is a rare Tortoise in European collections. It is 

 represented in the British Museum by a skeleton of an adult female 

 (referred by Gray to his Lviremys europcea), of unknown origin, 

 A second specimen, a male skeleton, from Lai^e St. Clair, Canada, 

 has been communicated to me by M. Lataste. The material upon 

 ■which these notes are based consists therefore of four specimens — 

 two live adults and two adult skeletons. 



Emys hlandingii is very closely alHed to its European congener. 

 The structure of the shell, apart from a somewhat more elongate 

 shape in the adult of the American specie?, affords no distinctive 

 characters. The colour of the shell is slightly different, owing to the 

 larger size of the yellowish-brown spots on the carapace, and tlie 

 large blackish blotches on the outer side of each of the plastral 

 shields ; Holbrook's figure affords an excellent representation of 

 the adult shells before me. The limbs also are extremely similar 

 to those of the European species, with the exception, perhaps, 

 that the interdigital webs are a trifle shorter. But the head and 

 tail show important differences. Tlie interorbital space is consider- 

 ably narrower, and the postorbital part of the head much longer ; 

 the mandil)le is longer, and its symphysial part narrower ; the width 

 of the symphysis is one sixth of the length of the mandible in 

 E. hlandingii, and one fourth in E. orhiculuris. Tiie tail is shorter. 



