10 D. B. CASTEEL 



sulky and refused to approach the boxes at all or even to leave 

 the entrance room. Some, after each shock, would dart back 

 quickly, turn and scurry away from the box, but were appar- 

 ently eager to try the experiment again. Others would with- 

 draw slightly from the electrode and would soon after, if allowed, 

 try the same box again or slowly move over to the other box. 

 Any individual might exhibit during the course of an experiment 

 one or several of the idiosyncrasies above noted. 



But the most troublesome form of behavior from the stand- 

 point of the operator was the development of a habit of right or 

 left turning. This tendency of an animal always to go either 

 to the right box or to the left, no matter how irregularly their 

 relative positions were changed, might appear at any time 

 during the course of its training. The habit might become 

 firmly fixed or merely be transient ; but if not quickly overcome 

 usually put an end to that animal's usefulness for experimental 

 purposes. As a rule such turtles soon became sulky, since they 

 received a large number of shocks. 



DESCRIPTION OF TURTLES 



The turtles used in all of the experiments were the Western 

 Painted Turtle, Chrysemys marginata. This familiar turtle is 

 semi-aquatic in habit, spending much of its time in the water 

 where it may be found crawling over the bottom in search of 

 food, darting through the water in pursuit of more active prey, 

 or floating idly on the surface with head and neck extended. 

 Upon warm days the turtles often leave the water, crawling up 

 the bank or upon protruding logs where they lie basking in the 

 sun. A more extended account of their habits is given by 

 Newman^ 



Except for certain lines and markings Chrysemys is not a 

 conspicuous turtle. The carapace is dark olive-green in shade 

 with somewhat lighter markings separating the scutes. The 

 marginal scutes bear dark red and yellow blotches. The plastron 

 is bright yellow. The ground color of the head, neck and legs 

 is similar to that of the carapace, dark olive-green; but the 

 sides of the head and neck are conspicuously striped with bright 

 yellow and red markings, longitudinal in direction, the yellow 



'Newman, H. H., The Habits of certain Tortoises, Jour. Comp. Neur. and Psych., 

 1906, vol. 16, No. 2. 



