16 EMYS TERRAPIN. 



of its existence there; yet I have received hving specimens from its southern 

 shore. This seems to be the only Emys common to North and South America, 

 and it is not singular, when we consider that all others of its tribe live in fresh 

 water — this alone in salt; consequently it might be driven in currents from island 

 to island, and from one shore of the Gulf to the other, like the Chelonia or sea 

 tortoises; and yet I have never received them from any of the West India islands, 

 nor have I any evidence of the existence of the Emys terrapin among them. 



They are very abundant in the salt marshes round Charleston, and are easily 

 taken when the female is about to deposit her eggs in the spring and early summer 

 months. They are then brought in immense numbers to market; yet, notwith- 

 standing this great destruction, they are so prolific that their number appears 

 undiminished. Their flesh is excellent at all times, but in the northern cities it is 

 most esteemed when the animal has been dug out of the mud in its state of 

 hybernation. The males are smaller than the females, and have the concentric 

 striae more deeply impressed. 



General Remarks. This animal was certainly first described by Schoepf, in his 

 Historia Testudinum, and accompanied with an excellent figure. Schoepf observed 

 it in the United States himself, where he was surgeon to a German regiment dur- 

 ing the war of the revolution; and he also received it from Muhlenberg, who sent 

 him specimens of many other animals. He called it Testudo terrapin, a name I 

 have retained in this work, not because I like it — on the contrary, it is inappro- 

 priate, being in common parlance applied to the whole genus — but on account of 

 its priority, which in every instance should rigidly be adhered to. The name 

 centrata of the French Naturalists, or, better still, concentrica of the English, is 

 the one I should prefer, but cannot adopt either for the reason above given. 



It is possible this may be the animal mentioned by Brown,* but nothing can be 

 positively determined from his description: "anterior extremities with five, pos- 



* Civil and Natural History of Jamaica, p. 465. 



