FOSSIL REPTILES. 275 



Paris, very evident remains of this subgenus have been dis- 

 covered. A portion of carapace was sent to the Baron by 

 Mr. Crow of Feversham, which, though a Httle compressed 

 and deformed, still clearly exhibited all the characters of emys. 

 Five pairs of ribs were distinguishable, and the remains of a 

 sixth, with six vertebral plates. The fifth of these plates is 

 separated from the sixth by a point formed by the ribs of the 

 fifth pair, which unite together in front of the sixth plate, 

 which is very small. This arrangement somewhat resembles 

 what has been seen in some remains of emys from Mount 

 Jura. There were also the entire impressions of two scales 

 of the middle series. The ribs which remain are of an equal 

 breadth throughout; a constant character of the emydes. 

 The vertebral plates are more narrow than in the existing 

 species ; and, from the impressions remaining, it appears that 

 the scales of the middle range were more long than broad. 

 M, Cuvier is of opinion that the emys expansa most resembles 

 this fossil. The marine tortoises have, it is true, like this 

 specimen, their ribs of equal length ; but their middle scales 

 are rhomboidal, and of greater breadth than length, 



Mr. Parkinson, in his *' Organic Remains," has given a 

 figure of a breast-piece from the same locality. The parts 

 which compose it do not appear to have been completely 

 joined by sutures, which might give rise to the opinion 

 that they belonged to a marine tortoise, or a trionyx; but 

 M. Cuvier prefers attributing them to a young emys, whose 

 ossification had not been completely terminated. The simi- 

 larity of the forms of the bones renders this notion extremely 

 probable. 



Some remains were found in the neighbourhood of Brussels, 

 which were at first attributed to the subgenus of the marine 

 tortoises. Even M. Cuvier himself was inclined to this idea, 

 though he clearly considered them as specifically distinguished 

 from any existing sea-tortoises. A close and more extensive 

 examination, however, of the carapaces of the different sub- 



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