1887.] MR. G. A. BOULENGER ON EMYS BLANDINGII. 55.5 



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 blandinfi'd. 

 By G. A. BouLENGER, F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived June 20, 1887.] 

 (Plate L.) 



Two specimens, male and female, of the American Einys {E. 

 blandingii, Holbr.) are now exhibited in the Society's Menagerie, 

 and I have 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, Leconte, Agassiz, Cope, &c., have dropped 

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

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

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

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

 the identification witii E. blandingii 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 (orbicularis), 

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

 that indication. 



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

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

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

 A second specimen, a male skeleton, from Lake 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 blandinyii is very closely allied to its European congener. 

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

 shape in the adult of the American species, 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 the 

 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 lim.bs 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. The 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. blandingii, and one fourth in E. orbicularis. The tail is shorter, 



