132 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



One of these was taken October 2, 1932, near Crissey, Lucas County, in a wet 

 place, in an otherwise dry ditch, where the specimen was sunning in water 

 about I/4 inch in depth. Its navel was soft and protruding; the carapace meas- 

 ured I1/3 inches in length by 1 inch in width; the plastron ~^ls2 i"^^ i*^ length 

 and the depth of the shell 1^/32 inch. Another juvenile was found sunning 

 itself on a steep bank about six inches above the water in a ditch in Washing- 

 ton Twp., Henry County, March 16, 1935. Its navel was healed but the scar 

 was prominent and it is possible it may have hibernated in the nest and 

 emerged in the spring. Its carapace measured 1 ^/^g inches by 1 l/^^g inches 

 and its depth was '^/jg inch. 



Emys blandingii (Holbrook) 

 Blanding's Turtle 



Description. — Blanding's turtle attains a carapace length of 10 inches or 

 more. Largest adult Ohio specimen (2), had a shell 8 i^/^j inches in 

 length; smallest newly hatched juvenile, li/^ inches. Carapace rigid and cov- 

 ered with horny plates; subovoid and flat above in adults; juveniles with a 

 middorsal keel. Highest part of shell, in adults, from 45.7% to 58% of the 

 distance back from the anterior margin; in juveniles as low as 30%. A slight 

 outward flare of the shell in the region of the legs. Scutes smooth or with 

 subconcentric rings rising slightly one above the other, the latter condition most 

 evident in young adults. Scutes somewhat imbricate in young. Nuchal nar- 

 row, marginals 25, costals and vertebrals normal. 



Plastron large and almost completely covering the soft parts. A trans- 

 verse hinge between the pectoral and abdominal scutes, well developed in 

 adults but lacking in the smallest specimens. Head large and flat above, upper 

 jaw notched. Tail moderate, longer in males than in females. Skin covered 

 with small scales, the latter largest on the limbs. 



Ground color of carapace black, brownish black or grey and usually heav- 

 ily marked with spots or streaks of yellow or pale olive. These markings 

 numerous and averaging several dozen on each of the larger dorsal scutes. 

 Plastron yellow with a blackish blotch on the postero-lateral portion of each 

 scute. Top of head similar in color to carapace and more or less spotted with 

 yellow or olivaceous dots. Chin and throat uniformly bright yellow. 



Juveniles differ from adults in color and pattern. Newly hatched ones are 

 uniform grey or grey brown with very little or no indication of the future 

 spotting. The plastron is uniform.ly blackish except for a narrow edging of 

 yellow. As specimens grow older and the areas originally occupied by the 

 dorsal scutes are separated from each other by the new growth, light streaks 

 appear in the new tissue and these eventually break up into the markings of 

 the adult. Similarly the new growth of the plastron contains considerable 

 yellow and the black eventually becomes confined to the postero-lateral part of 

 each scute. 



Specimens examined, 105; specimens preserved, 28; specimens studied, 16. 



Range. — Central Nebraska and Minnesota, east to southern Ontario and 



