TESTUDINIDAE 347 



Gardens of London have developed a taste for biscuits. One of 

 my largest Ch. concinna fasted deliberately for eight months, 

 refusing worms, insects, meat, and frogs, only occasionally sniffing 

 at the food, until it was tempted with whitebait, which it took 

 greedily. It refused, however, smelts and pieces of soles, but 

 after another mouth it condescended to take meat regularly. 

 Very young individuals live chiefly on flies, which they watch 

 for near the surface of the water ; and they are fond of smooth 

 caterpillars, maggots, the larvae of humble-bees, and similar soft 

 creatures. They all spend most of their time in the water, 

 preferably floating near the surface, hidden between weeds ; and 

 they are fond of basking. Some of them spend the night in the 

 water, lying motionless on the bottom, with heads and limbs 

 turned in. Others prefer hiding under moss. Those species, 

 which, like Ch. concinna and Ch. picta, are common in the North, 

 are of course perfectly hardy. For the winter they dig them- 

 selves holes in the banks near the water, and they do not come 

 out again until the spring is well advanced. The eggs are hard- 

 shelled, mostly long and oval, and they are hatched before the 

 end of the summer. The larger species of Terrapin are eaten. 



Ch. picta (Fig. 76), the "Painted Terrapin," of the Eastern 

 United States, e.g. of Xew York and Long Island, is easily re- 

 cognised by the much depressed shell, which is absolutely smooth, 

 and without a trace of a keel. The colour above is dark olive-brown 

 or blackish, with broad yellow bands across the anterior ends of the 

 neural and costal shields. Three or four of these transverse bands 

 are very conspicuous. The marginals are red, with more or less 

 concentric black and yellow markings. The pretty red colour, 

 with some black stripes, extends over the bridge, but the plastron 

 itself is uniformly yellow. The soft parts are likewise prettily 

 marked, the ground-colour is black-brown, with delicate bright 

 yellow and red stripes on the sides of the neck, limbs, and tail. 

 The stripes are originally yellow, but they develop an orange or 

 red line in the middle, so that each red stripe is ultimately 

 narrowly edged with yellow ; or the yellow and red stripes 

 alternate, for instance on the tail, which is short, narrow, and 

 pointed. The head is further adorned with a pair of con- 

 spicuous bright yellow patches behind the eyes, and a smaller pair 

 on the occiput. The black and yellow stripes run across the gape 

 of the mouth, some of the lines even looking as if they had been 



