On the nomenclature of certain American fossil vertebrates Author Hay, OP text The American Geologist 1899 1899-08-25 24 345 349 journal article 10.1126/science.10.243.253 96ee742a-8405-4e3d-af7e-11d187215f24 3371243 Mr . J. Z. Gilbert ll has described the skull of a species of Testudo from the Loup Fork beds of Kansas and identified it with Prof . Cope`s T . undata , described * from the Loup Fork deposits of New Mexico. Since nothing is known of the latter species except a few marginals and a costal bone, there is really no evidence that the fine skull described by Gilbert belongs to T. undata . The probabilities are greater that it belongs to one of the species described by Prof . Copet from the Loup Fork beds of Kansas, Testudo orthopygia and T. cyclopygia . Ut T. orthopygia Prof. Cope possessed most of the skeleton including the skull. A comparison of Mr . Gilbert's figures and description with the description of Prof. Cope makes it pretty certain that the former is not identical with T, orthopygia . Of T. cyclopygia the skull is not known, and we have no means of comparing it with Mr . Gilbert's species. This being the case, it is better, I believe, to give the latter a distinct name. so that its literature may be kept separate until further discoveries demonstrate its relationship to other described forms. * The Kenabeek, the great serpents, Lying huge upon the water. Sparkling, rippling: un the water, Lying coiled across the passage, With their blazing crests uplifted. --Longfellow's Hiawatha. †Proc. Acad. Nat . Sci. Phila., 1876, p. 341. ‡Proc. Amer. Phillis. Soc., vol. XXX , p. 140. § Tcrtiary Vertebrates, p. nó , pl. XV, figs. 1 - 12. Kansas Univ. Quart., vol. VII . p. 143, with 4 text-figures. I name it in honor of its describer Testudo gilbertii .