Reptiles and Amphibians of Illinois. 225 



Chrysemys picta [in part], Davis and Rice, Bull. 111. State Lab. 



Nat. Hist., I., No. 5, 1883, p. 50. 

 Chrysemys picta, Garman, S., List N. A. Kept, and Batr., 1884. 



Carapace about six inches long, depressed, convex, highest 

 at about the middle, posterior lateral margins slightly flared. 

 Nuchal plate long, narrow, notched in front. Three median 

 dorsals about equal in size, hexagonal. Dorsals and costals 

 alternating, never in transverse series of three. A slight notch 

 in the margin, between the caudals. Plastron rounded before, 

 truncate or cut out, leaving a very wide angle between the 

 margins of the anals, the latter sometimes denticulate. Ante- 

 rior lateral angles of the gulars with a blunt tooth, the mar- 

 gins more or less denticulate. Pectorals transverse, about half 

 the size of the abdominals. Axillary and inguinal well devel- 

 oped. Head flattened; eyes prominent, nostrils anterior and 

 near together. Upper jaw with a sharp tooth on each side of 

 a median notch; lower jaw with a median tooth. Anterior 

 feet with transverse imbricated scales; digits five, claws long 

 and curved. Posterior legs larger, expanded distally, with four 

 digits, claws shorter than those of the anterior digits; a corne- 

 ous marginal projection in place of fifth toe. 



Color above greenish olive, or brown, with a narrow black- 

 edged vertebral line; margins of plates yellow, edged with black. 

 Marginal plates with lines and spots of yellow or red above, 

 with a wide transverse band, or a triangular marginal spot of 

 red and a few lines and spots of the same below. Plastron 

 orange or yellow, with a large black or dusky oblong central 

 area, this often marbled with pale, sometimes obsolete. Head 

 brown above, with narrow red or yellow lines and dots, with 

 numerous alternating black and red or yellow lines below. 

 Iris yellowish brown, black before and behind pupil. The 

 most conspicuous stripes of head and neck as follows: a stripe 

 extending from the upper posterior part of the head down- 

 wards and backwards upon the neck; a short wide dash be- 

 hind the eye; a stripe extending from the posterior inferior 

 margin of the eye beneath the tympanum and backwards on 

 the lower part of the neck; a short wide line near the corner 

 of the mouth on the lower jaw; and a median narrow stripe 

 extending from the tooth of the lower jaw backwards a short 



