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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVII. No 426 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



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The editor loillbe glad to publish any queries consonant with the character 

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The Audubon Monument. 



Audubon, the great naturalist, to whom this country is as much 

 indebted as the English peoijle are to White of Selborne for the 

 accurate study of natural history, died in New York in 1851, and 

 was buried in Trinity Cemetery. His family vault was in that 

 part of the cemetery which, subsequent to the selection of the site, 

 became 153d Street, which the city authorities have ordered to be 

 opened. As there was danger of the vault being interfered with 

 by the improvements consequent on the opening of the street, the 

 trustees of the cemetery gave the family a new plot, and built a 

 new vault at their own expense, to which his remains were re- 

 moved in 1390; but no monument marks or ever has marked his 

 grave. 



In the year 1887 the New York Academy of Sciences appointed 

 a committee, of which I was chairman, to collect funds to erect a 

 suitable monument over his grave. Since that time the com- 

 mittee have labored constantly and earnestly to collect sufficient 

 money to erect this monument, but with no very great success. 

 A few generous responses have been received, and a number of 

 conditional subscriptions have been made ; but, counting them all 

 together, less than half the amount necessary for the erection of 

 the monument, the design for which was accepted by the com- 

 mittee, has been raised. If every appeal which has been sent out 

 had been responded to by the contribution of five dollars, there 

 would have been enough to erect both a monument over his grave 

 and one in the park beside. It still remains a fact that the grave 

 of the greatest naturalist that this city has ever produced, of 

 whose work Cuvier said that it was '' the most magnificent mon- 

 ument that art had ever raised to ornithology," is not distinguished 

 by any mark of any kind, and that the committee, after four 

 years of unremitting labor, during which they have tried every 

 expedient known to them to induce people to subscribe, have 

 failed to raise the amount of money which they consider necessary 

 for a suitable monument. The committee are well aware of how 

 many claims there are, both for the living and the dead ; but this 

 one has certainly not met with the response which it ought to 

 have met with. The committee do not feel that they can carry 

 on the work of collecting, which demands so much personal labor 

 from theni. over another year, and appeal earnestly to the public 

 to support Them, so that they may finish their labors during the 

 year 1891, and erect over the remains of this great citizen of New 

 York a monument worthy of his genius and his fame. 



Thos. Egleston. 



New York, March SI. 



The very Peculiar Tortoise, Carettochelys Ramsay, from 

 New Guinea. 



Through the great kindness of Professor Ramsay, curator of 

 the Australian Museum, Sydney, I have just received some pho- 

 tographs of the unique specimen of Carettochelys. From these I 

 reach the conclusion that Carettochelys is an ancestral form of the 

 Trionychia. 



One of the photographs shows the upper and lower view of the 

 posterior portion of the skull. The most pecular character of this 

 part is the enormously developed supra-occipital spine, which is 

 spoon-shaped. The squamosals have also developed, exactly as in 

 the Trionychia, large crest-like posterior processes. They do not 

 reach so far behind as the supra-occipital spine. The whole shape 

 of this portion of the skull is only comparable with that of the 

 Trionychia. The pterygoids extend between quadrate and basi- 

 phenoid exactly as in this group. The quadrate is not entirely 

 closed behind, as in the Trionychia, but only on the outside, 

 leaving a posterior foramen, as in the Podocnemididce, for in- 

 stance. The articular face of the quadrate is as in the Trionychia, 

 and so is the posterior end of the lower jaw. The shape of the 



pterygoids is also as in the Trionychia, but from the photograph I 

 cannot ascertain whether they are curved up in front, as in the 

 Pleurodira, or not. There is no parieto-squamosal arch, but a 

 post-orbital and quadrato-jngal arch is present, resembling the 

 arrangement in the Trionychia. The inter-orbital space is very 

 large, and the orbits are lateral, much as in the Staurotypidoe 

 and Cinosternidce. The bones of the head are sculptured exactly 

 in the same wa3' as the shell, a condition only found in the Ju- 

 i-assic Compsemys plicatulus Cope. The nose was projected in 

 front. It would seem from the photographs that there was a dis- 

 tinct very small mesoplastral bone. 



Unfortunately the cervicals of the unique specimens have not 

 been preserved by the collector. The condition of the pelvis, and 

 the number of the phalanges in the fourth digit, are not yet 

 known. To judge from the photograph, the latter do not exceed 

 three. But I think it already possible to draw conclusions about 

 the relations of this peculiar form. I consider it an ancestral 

 form of the Trionychia, which still preserves the peripheral bones, 

 and which has the carapace and plastron completely closed. Fur- 

 ther finds will show whether the cervicals are already of the Tri- 

 onychian structure, or whether they show the condition of the 

 Amphiehelydia or Pleurodira. There are only ten peripherals on 

 each side, as in the Staurotypidoe, Cinosternidce, and the fossil 

 Anostira and Pseudotrionyx ; and I should not be surprised to 

 hear that this form will prove to be very close to Pseudotrionyx. 

 I also believe that the group containing the Derniatemydidce, 

 Chelydridce, Staurotypidce, and Cinosternidce is related to the an- 

 cestral Trionychia. 



Carettochelys cannot be placed in any group of living tortoises: 

 it has to be considered as the representative of a peculiar group 

 ancestral to the Trionychia, and in relation probablj' to the .4m- 

 phichelydia. This group I propose to call Carettochelydes. I can 

 only hope that other specimens of this ancestral tortoise may be 

 collected soon. The only specimen now in existence has been 

 caught in the Fly River, New Guinea, and is now in the Austra- 

 lian Museum, Sydney. G. Baue. 



Clark University, "Worcester, Mass., March 26. 



American Box-Tortoises. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Gustave Kohn of New Orleans, 

 La., I have received lately a specimen of the Southern box-tortoise, 

 made known for the first time by L, Agassiz under the name 

 of Cistudo major, which name has to be changed into Terrapene 

 major. 



As is well known, one of the generic characters of Terrapene 

 (Cistudo) consists in the absence of the bony temporal arch. Three 

 years ago I showed that in the common Eastern box-tortoise 

 (Terrapene Carolina L.) a rudimentary quadrato-jugal is present, 

 connected with the quadrate, but not reaching the jugal (Zool. 

 Am., No. 396, 1888). I was greatly surprised to find now that 

 the Terrapene major Ag. has the bony temporal arch well devel- 

 oped, exactly as in Clemmys or Cyclemys, for instance. This con- 

 dition was seen in all specimens (three) examined. The Southern 

 box-tortoise, therefore, appears as the most primitive form of the 

 American species. This is also shown by other chai-acters. The 

 scapula is more primitive, the digits are strongly webbed, and the 

 cervicals are longer. The Terrapene ornata Ag., only found in the 

 Central States, is the most specialized form. There is no trace of 

 a quadrato-jugal. The post-orbital arch has become very slender, 

 the two branches of the scapula are of the same length, the cervi- 

 cals are very short, and there are only two phalanges in the digits 

 of the fore-limb. Terrapene Carolina L. is between the Southern 

 and Central form. All these species have one or two distinct 

 ossifications at the upper end of the scapula. 



I give now the characters of the three species: — 



Terrapene major Ag. — Quadrato-jugal well developed, touching 

 jugal and quadrate ; cervicals long ; upper branch of scapula con- 

 siderably longer than inner branch (endo-scapula) ; digits with 

 greatly developed webs; number of phalanges of fore-limb, 3, 3, 3, 

 3,3; shell elongated. 



Terrapene Carolina L. — Quadrato jugal rudimentary, only con- 

 nected with quadrate; cervicals shorter than in T. major; upper 



