660 REPTILES-——EM YDIDA. 
Carapax above jet black, with numerous, irregular, yellow, more or less confluent 
blotches, giving it in places the appearance of a black and yellow marbling, but often 
the yellow is entirely wanting; plastron sometimes yellow, but usually black, each 
plate usually with its inner and anterior border somewhat yellow ; head and nape black, 
often with reddish or yellow blotches; lower mandible yellow; guiar region yellow, 
usually more or less clouded with dark ; bead above covered with a soft skin; feet and 
tail scaly ; tympanum and nosirils large; lower jaw with a small hook; commissure of 
mouth much curved ; neck long; eyes large; marginal plates twenty four or twenty- 
five; costals large, the first largest, the second and third nearly quadrilateral, the fourth 
rhombic; first vertebral four sided, broadest anteriorly, last septagonal, the four lower 
sides short, to articulate with the four posterior marginals, the remaining three sides 
about twice as long, the upper border rounded or projecting; the remaining neural 
plates hexagonal, the anterior and posterior borders nearly twice the length of the 
lateral; cos'al and vertebral plates alternating; carapax entire in front, notched 
behind; plastron elliptical, entire anteriorly but broadly notched posteriorly ; sternal 
shields all four-sided «xcept the gular, which are triangular, with the most acute angle 
posteriorly ; tail rather small; toes five in front and four behind. Length of carapax, 
9 inches; length of neck and head, 54 inches; height of carapax, 22 inches; tail from 
anus, 2 inches. 
Habitat, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois. 
The Emys meleagris seems to be rare everywhere. It was described by © 
Dr. Holbrook as coming from the prairies of Illinois, and afterwards 
noted by Dr. Storer as found along the Fox River. It has been subse- 
quently seen in various parts of the states named, and, though as yet I 
have no knowledge of its having been observed in Ohio, its range is such, 
having been found at Ann Arbor, Michigan, among other places, that I 
doubt not it will be detected in the State. The most northern limit at 
which it has been observed is, I believe, Haverhill, New Hampshire, and 
Racine, Wisconsin, the former being in latitude 44°. 
Being somewhat longer than its Huropean analogue, Emys lutaria, it has 
been needlessly confounded with Cuisiudo clausa, from which it may 
readily be distinguished by its upper mandible being notched at the 
apex, and the absence of a downward curve or hook of the beak. The 
carapax is also much longer and deveid of the keel, and the plastron with 
its transverse movable suture less marked, and its posterior end broadly 
notehed or truncated, thus rendering the anal plates four-sided instead of 
triangular. | | 
A specimen before me had the carapax marked eleven years ago, and 
has lost one limb, the wound of which has healed perfectly. 
Genus NANEMYS. Agassiz. 
Upper jaw with a notch at apex; lower mandible arched upwards; snout rounded, 
not laterally compressed; carapax ecarinate, considerably arched and elongated ; 
plates of plastron immovable, united together and to the carapax; neck and legs scaly. 
