24 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



GENUS CISTUDA. Fleming. 



Shell gibbous, stout. Marginal plates twenty-four to twenty -five. Sternum oval, with twelve 

 plates bivalve ; both valves movable on the same axis, and connected together by ligament. 

 Anterior feet with five nails ; posterior ivithfour. 



THE COMMON BOX TORTOISE. 



CiSTUDA CAROLINA. 



PLATE I. FIG. 1. — (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Testwlo Carolina. L. 12 Ed. p. 352. 



T. clans. ScHtEPFF, Hist. Test. pi. 7. 



Checkered Tortoise. Penn. Arct. Zool. Supp. p. 79. 



T. clausa et virgnlata. Daud. Hist. Rept. Vol. 2, p. 207, pi. 23, fig. 1, 2. 



Cistuda clausa. Say, Ac. Sc. Vol. 2, p. 205. 



C. Carolina. Le Conte, Ann. Lye. Vol. 3, p. 124. 



C. clausa. Harlan, Med. & Phys. Res. p. 149. 



C. Carolina. DoM. & Bibron, Vol. 2, p. 210. 



C. id. Storee, Mass. Rep. Holbeook, Herpet. Vol. 3, p. 9, pi. 1 ; and Vol. 1, p. 31, pi. 2, of Ed. 2da. 



C. clausa. KlETLAND, Zool. Report of Ohio, p. 188. 



Characteristics. Shell hemispherical, elevated. Upper jaw hooked. Vertebral plates sub- 

 cariiiate. Sternum entire behind. Length 5-7 inches. 



Description. Anterior vertebral plate carinate ; the three middle vertebral plates hexagonal, 

 sub-carinate ; the fifth pentagonal, smallest. First lateral plate quadrilateral ; the second 

 largest. Marginal plates in this specimen, twenty-four ; this is noticed by Merrem as unusual, 

 but I have seen it in three or four specimens. The anterior marginal plate very small, linear. 

 Sternum smooth, entire behind ; the plates on the anterior lid smallest ; scapular and brachial 

 plates triangular ; the others oblong, sub-quadrate. Posterior valve concave, not quite so 

 flexible as the anterior, but sufficiendy so as to enclose completely the animal. Fore feet 

 with large and strong scales in front, and smaller ones behind, with short robust claws, of 

 which the two medial were longest. Hind feet also with large scales, and four somewhat 

 longer claws. Head stout, nostrils contiguous with the upper jaw, sometimes emarginate. 

 Neck long. Tail short, conical. 



Color. Shell with a dark brown ground, upon which are numerous irregular stellated marks 

 and dashes, with occasional confluent blotches. Head, neck and extremities of a light lemon 

 yellow, with irregular black stripes on the summit of the head. Sternum rosaceous, with 

 broad irregular blotches of black. 



Length of shell, 6'0. 



Breadth, 4-0. 



Height, 2-5. 



