GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
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GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
The Testudinata, like the other Reptilia, are essentially confined to torrid 
and temperate regions. Although most of them thrive in warm or even hot 
climates, yet some species of each of the principal groups, excepting the small 
one of the Trionychidce, are found inhabiting countries of considerably lower 
temperature. The fresh-water forms generally appear to be capable of bear¬ 
ing a higher latitude than the terrestrial. Testudo grceca is not, I believe, 
found farther north than 45°; whilst Terrapene europcea , a fresh-water species, 
is said to be found in Hungary, Silesia, and even in Prussia*, that is to 
say, as high as 50° to 53° or 54°; it is commonly found near Bourdeaux, and in 
the North of Italy: and Emys caspica inhabits the shores of the Caspian Sea. 
The American species of land tortoise, T. tabulata , is not found north of the 
river Savannah; whereas the fluviatile and lacustrine species are common in 
Pennsylvania, and even in States still further north ; and I have even received 
Emys picta, an American lacustrine species, from Hudson s Bay, from whence 
it was brought in the same box with skins of the Arctic fox, and other animals 
of that region. I cannot however speak with any certainty of the exact 
situation in which it was taken. 
In the Southern Hemisphere, these animals are found as far as 40° S. lat. 
Testudo indica (probably introduced), T. pardalis , T geometrica , Hydraspis 
galeata , and several others, inhabit the Cape of Good Hope; and in New Hol¬ 
land are found Hydraspis longicollis and Emys porphyrea. I have not heard 
of any species being indigenous to Van Diemen s\ Land. 
Upon the whole, the utmost range of the Testudinata appears to be from 
54° N. lat. to about 40° S. lat. 
The distribution of the genera and species is a matter of no small interest. 
There are few genera of which some species are not found both in the Old and 
New World ; but I am not acquainted with a single species, excepting the Marine 
Turtles, which can be considered indigenous to both hemispheres. This is an 
important fact, and enables us to correct many erroneous statements respecting 
the species described by former authors. The only apparent exception to this 
* Wulff, Ichthyologia, fyc. 
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