34 REPTILES OF THE WORLD 



The Three-Toed Box Turtle, C. triunguis, has a 

 keel on the carapace and the shell is shaped like that of 

 C. Carolina. Little or no traces of yellow markings are 

 visible on the upper shell, which is dull brown or olive. 

 From Missouri to Georgia and southward to the Gulf 

 States the species is fairly common. 



In southern Georgia and Florida is another species 

 with three claws on the hind foot. This is Baur's Box 

 Turtle, C. baitri, having a higher, narrower and more 

 globular shell than those species described. Nor does 

 the upper shell agree with the other box turtles in flaring 

 sharply upward at the rear margin; there being only a 

 slight intimation of this. Besides the structural differ- 

 ences stated, a glance at the coloration will show it to be 

 strongly characteristic. It is regular and composed of 

 close-set, narrow greenish lines radiating from the center 

 of the shell. In the dry and sandy pine woods the writer 

 has found many turtles of this kind ; they may often be 

 found hiding under the leaves of the dwarf palmetto. 



The single species of Box Turtle found in Mexico — 

 C. mexicana — has three claws on the hind foot. 



In the lists of scientific classification there exist several 

 genera between Cistudo and those land chelonians called 

 tortoises, the latter distinguished by their dome-like shells 

 and stubby feet, without vestiges of webs that resemble, 

 in miniature, the feet of an elephant — the resemblance 

 relating principally to the hind feet. Among the sev- 

 eral genera placed immediately before the tortoises — 

 these mostly Oriental — we find species that are semi- 

 aquatic, though few of them are dependent upon the 

 water for obtaining their food, as are the typical flat- 

 shelled turtles and terrapins. 



With the tortoises we arrive at chelonians so removed 

 in structure and habits from the turtles that there comes 



