The Terrapins 



Dimensions. The measurements quoted are from a fair- 

 sized female specimen, taken near Sandusky, Ohio: 



Total length of Carapace 9^ inches. 



Width of Carapace yi 



Length of Plastron 8 



Width, Flat Portion, of Plastron 4 



Width of Head ij 



A specimen of this size will weigh about three and a half 

 pounds and sells for about seventy-five cents in the eastern 

 markets. 



Distribution. The species is abundant in the Valley of the 

 Mississippi, whence, in the North it extends eastward into Penn- 

 sylvania and New York to Lake Champlain. It occurs as far 

 south as Louisiana. 



Habits. Judging from his experiences with several hundred 

 specimens of this turtle, both in the tanks of the reptile house 

 of the New York Zoological Park and with specimens that were 

 liberated in small ponds of the Park, the writer believes this 

 to be a delicate species when removed from its native environ- 

 ment. It will eat chopped fish, meat and mealworms, also earth- 

 worms and various soft-bodied grubs, dragging all its food into 

 the water and devouring it beneath the surface. The writer 

 has also observed it to eat the edges of water-lily pads. None 

 of the specimens liberated in the Park ponds passed through 

 the winter alive all floating up dead in the spring. The ponds 

 appeared to be very favorable for the life of such creatures as 

 there was a soft mud bottom in which they could burrow for 

 the winter. The experiment was continued for several winters, 

 but with a like result. It appeared that some item of their 

 food was lacking and without it they could not summon sufficient 

 strength to pass the winter months. 



LESUEUR'S TERRAPIN 

 Malacodemmys lesueurii, (Gray) 



Attains the same length as the preceding species. The 

 carapace is flaring at the rear and strongly notched at the sutures 

 of the marginal shields. The centre of the carapace rises rather 

 sharply and is surmounted by a high keel, broken into a series 

 of tubercles one in each shield. This formation produces a 

 strongly serrated outline to the curve of the back. The surface 



44 



