CISTUDA CAROLINA. 35 



Geographical Distribution. The Cistuda Carolina is found from one extremity 

 of the Union to the other. I have seen it in all the Atlantic states, even as 

 far north as Maine, and have received specimens from Florida, Alabama and 

 Louisiana. Dr. Pickering observed it in Ohio, and Say as far west as Engineer 

 cantonment on the Missouri river. 



General Remarks. The first notice of this animal is to be found in the 

 "Gleanings of Natural History," by George Edwards; who has given a very good 

 figure of it, done from a living specimen sent him by Alexander Light, Esq., of 

 South Carolina. He observes that the sternum is "divided in two at the middle 

 of the belly;" and that "these two pieces are attached to the shell by a skin, 

 strong, tough, and flexible," which gives to the animal "the power to close itself 

 as firmly as an oyster." The figure of Edwards is only faulty in being drawn 

 without a tail; although in his description he speaks of a tail "very short, with 

 the vent opening near the extremity." Linnaeus next gave it a place in the tenth 

 edition of his Systema Naturae, under the name Testudo Carolina; of this there 

 can be no doubt, as his only reference is to the Testudo tessellata Carolina, &c. 

 of Edwards. 



Gmelin did great harm to the science of Herpetology by receiving, in his 

 edition of the Systema Naturae, as a new species, under the name Testudo 

 clausa, the tortoise described by Bloch,* which is certainly the Testudo Carolina 

 of Linnaeus. He has thus unnecessarily increased the catalogue of synonymes, 

 by describing the same animal twice under different names. Schoepff" is still 

 more to blame for adopting this name of clausa; the more so, as he was fully 

 aware, as may be seen by his own remarks and references, of the identity of the 

 Testudo Carolina of Linnaeus, and the Testudo clausa of Gmelin. Thus, he gives 

 as references, in the description of the Testudo clausa of his work, the Testudo 

 Carolina of the tenth edition of the Systema NatursB of Linnaeus; and furthermore, 

 he excludes the references to Gronovius and Seba, given in the twelfth edition. 



** Schrift. der Berl. Naturf., fr. 7, p. 131, tab. i. 



