Curtis C. Bentley and James L. Knight 



Fig. 2 Complete E. blandingii (.546) in situ, with axial skeleton preserved inside 

 the shell, indicating a "withdrawal response" and final burial prior to any signif- 

 icant decay. 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



Morphological terminology used in this paper is taken from Carr 

 (1952), Ernst and Barbour (1989), Holman (1967, 1977, 1985), Holman and 

 Grady (1987), and Preston (1979). Taxonomy follows Conant and Collins 

 (1991). 



Morphological comparisons of Recent skeletons to fossil material were 

 made against available specimens in the Florida Museum of Natural History and 

 the South Carolina State Museum collections. Additionally, specimens from The 

 University of Michigan Museum of Zoology of Emydoidea blandingii, UMMZ 

 155047-155054, Clemmys guttata, UMMZ 51235, 51236, 51240-51242, 

 159219, 155001, 155002, and Clemmys muhlenbergii, UMMZ 77140 and, 

 130840 were studied. 



Most of the specimens in the South Carolina State Museum collections 

 are deposited under the base number of S.C. 94.10. and for brevity, are refer- 

 enced in the text only by the digits following this base number. Specimens 

 accessioned separately are designated by the institutional prefix of SCSM. Fos- 

 sil specimens deposited in the National Museum of Natural History and the 

 Florida Museum of Natural History are designated by USNM and UF, respec- 

 tively. 



