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Show 1887.] MR. G. A. BOULENGER ON EMYS BLANOINGH. 555 odontoid bone and of the second centrum are deeply emarginate inferiorly, terminating in two diverging tubercular processes exactly as in Chelys. II. Notes on Emys blandingii. By G. A. BOULENGER, F.Z.S. [Received June 20, 1887.] (Plate L.) Two specimens, male and female, of the American Emys (E. blandingii, Holbr.) are now exhibited in the Society's Menagerie, and I have availed myself of the opportunity for examining the question of the validity of this species, which has recently been contested, and for supplementing the only description which has ever been given, viz. that of Holbrook in 1842. Subsequent American authors, Leconte, Agassiz, Cope, &c, have dropped Holbrook's name in favour of Shaw's meleagris. But on referring to Shaw's description and figure, and judging by the coloration of the head, I am inclined to identify Testudo meleagris with the European Emys orbicularis. The reason which, no doubt, led to the identification with E. blandingii is Shaw's indication of the habitat " America." However, the fact that Shaw, a few years later, referred T. meleagris to the synonymy of T. europaa (orbicularis), shows that the author himself did not believe in the accuracy of that indication. Emys blandingii is a rare Tortoise in European collections. It is represented in the British Museum by a skeleton of an adult female (referred by Gray to his Lutremys europaa), of unknown origin. A second specimen, a male skeleton, from Lake St. Clair, Canada, has been communicated to me by M . Lataste. The material upon which these notes are based consists therefore of four specimens- two live adults and two adult skeletons. Emys blandingii is very closely allied to its European congener. The structure of the shell, apart from a somewhat more elongate shape in the adult of the American species, affords no distinctive characters. The colour of the shell is slightly different, owing to the larger size of the yellowish-brown spots on the carapace, and the large blackish blotches on the outer side of each of the plastral shields; Holbrook's figure affords an excellent representation of the adult shells before me. The limbs also are extremely similar to those of the European species, with the exception, perhaps, that the interdigital webs are a trifle shorter. But the head and tail show important differences. The interorbital space is considerably narrower, and the postorbital part of the head much longer ; the mandible is longer, and its symphysial part narrower ; the width of the symphysis is one sixth of the length of the mandible in E. blandingii, and one fourth in E. orbicularis. The tail is shorter, |
