TESTUDINIDAE 359 



upper jaw finely denticulated, and by its prettier coloration, 

 each shield being ornamented with yellowish streaks which form 

 a kind of oo on the costals, and a ring on the marginals. The 

 plastron is black in the young, with yellow and black patches in 

 the adult. The head and sides of the neck are striped with 

 yellow lines, narrowly edged with black, and the rest of the soft 

 parts is marbled dark olive and yellow. A few other species 

 occur in China, Japan, and North America. 



Clemmys insculpta, one of the American species, ranging from 

 Maine to Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is easily recognised by 

 the peculiar reddish-brown and brick-dust colour of the soft parts. 

 The strongly keeled, posteriorly emarginate carapace is reddish 

 brown, with radiating yellow lines. Each shield is delicately 

 sculptured. The plastron, which is notched behind, is yellow, 

 with a large black patch on the outer corner of each shield. 

 Length of a full-grown specimen 8 inches. They frequent the 

 rivers and ponds, but are also very fond of leaving the water, 

 sometimes remaining for months in dry places. 



Malacoclemmys of North America, with three species only, is 

 closely allied to Clemmys, from which it differs chiefly by the 

 very broad alveolar surface of the upper jaw, and by the more for- 

 ward position of the entoplastron, this being placed anteriorly to 

 the humero-pectoral suture. We mention this genus since one 

 of its species, M. terrapin, is so extensively eaten in the Eastern 

 United States. The shell is oval, slightlv emarginate behind, 



O / O 



obtusely carinated along the middle line. The upper parts of 

 the shell are brown or greenish, with dark concentric lines ; the 

 marginals are yellow below, each with a ring of dark grey, and 

 forming a peculiarly up-turned rim. The plastron is yellowish, 

 either with concentric stripes and dusky lines or uniform yellow. 

 But it is the colour of the soft parts which gives this otherwise 

 dull-looking creature its delicately pretty appearance. The skin 

 is, namely, greenish white with countless small black dots. The 

 males remain much smaller than the females, and have the con- 

 centric stripes more pronounced. This species, the choicest of 

 the edible Terrapins, frequents the salt marshes of the east coast 

 of North America, from Ehode Island to the Gulf of Mexico, 

 being most abundant around Charleston. 



The following is a condensed account of an article which 

 appeared in the New York Sun, 18th September 1898, the data 



