59 



EMYS MURLENBERGII.—Schweigger. 



Plate V. 



Characters. Shell oblong, a little contracted at the sides, entire, slightly 

 carinate, dark brown, with blotches of obscure yellow and sub-radiating lines on 

 the lateral platesj sternum emarginate behind; a large orange spot behind the 

 head, on each side. 



Synonymes. Testudo Muhlenbergii, Schoepjf, Hist. Test, p. 132. tab. 31. 

 Emys Muhlenbergii, Schweigger, Prod. Arch. Koenigs., torn. i. p. 310. 

 Chersine Muhlenbergii, Merrem, Syst. der Amph., p. 30, spec. 35. 

 Emys biguttata, Say, Jour. Acad. Nat. Scien., vol. iv. p. 212. 

 Testudo Muhlenbergii, Leconte, Ann. Lye. N. Y., vol. iii. p. 119. 

 Emys Muhlenbergii, Gray, Synop. Rept., p. 25. 

 Emys Muhlenbergii, Harlan, Jour. Acad. Nat. Scien., vol. v. p. 25. 



Description. The shell is oblong, arched, and slightly carinate. The first 

 vertebral plate is pentagonal, with an acute angle directed forwards; the second, 

 third, and fourth are hexagonal; the fifth is irregularly pentagonal, with its inferior 

 border joined to four marginal plates. The first lateral plate is irregularly trian- 

 gular, with its apex truncated and joined to the second vertebral plate, its basis 

 is rounded and joined to four marginal plates; the second and third lateral plates 

 are pentagonal. There are twenty-five marginal plates; the nuchal is very narrow, 

 almost linear; the first marginal plate is irregularly quadrilateral, the remainder, 

 very regularly quadrilateral; the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh are narrow and 

 inclined backwards; all these plates are marked with radiating strife and concentric 

 furrows in the young animal. The sternum is oblong and deeply emarginate 



