Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895 edition. Excerpt: ... ZOOLOGICAL POSITION OF THE REDBELLIED SLIDER TERRAPIN. Subkingdom, Vertebrata. Division, Sauropsida. Class, Reptilia. Order, Chelonia. Family, Emydoidse. Genus, Pseudemys. Species, rugosa. Characters of the Sauropsida.* 1. Almost always an epidermic skeleton, in the form of scales or feathers. 2. The vertebral centra are ossified, but have no terminal epiphyses. 3. The skull has a completely ossified occipital segment and a large basi-sphenoid. There is no separate para-sphenoid in the adult. The prootic is always ossified, and either remains distinct from the opisthotic and epiotic during life, or unites with them only after they have anchylosed with adjacent bones. 4. There is always a single convex occipital condyle, into which the ossified ex-occipitals and basi-occipital enter in various proportions. 5. A mandible is always present, and each ramus consists of an articular ossification and several membrane-bones. The articular is connected with the rest of the skull by an ossified quadrate. 6. The apparent ankle-joint lies between the proximal and distal divisions of the tarsus. * The characters given are taken, with slight modification, from Huxley. 7. The alimentary canal terminates in a cloaca. 8. The heart is trilocular or quadrilocular; some of the blood-corpuscles are red, oval, and nucleated. 9. The aortic arches may be two or more; when only one persists in the adult it is on the right side. 10. Respiration is never performed by branchiae; and after birth always by lungs, in which the bronchi do not branch dichotomously. 11. A thoracic diaphragm may exist, but never forms a complete partition between the thoracic and abdominal viscera. 12. The cerebral hemispheres are never united by a corpus callosum. 13. The reproductive...
