236 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



median ridge. Digits webbed to the claws, which are of medium length 

 in the adult. Vent projecting outside of the shell in the male. 



Color. — Carapace dark brownish olive or black. The yellow borders 

 of the scales very narrow and do not form bands right across the back. 

 A yellow narrow streak along the median line of the back. The top of 

 the marginals is lined with crescentic and straight yellowish lines. 

 On the underside these lines are red. The plastron is uniform blood- 

 red in the adults, which color partly fades away in alcoholic speci- 

 mens. When the red has faded the plastron sometimes shows a faint 

 long and wide blackish mark. In the young of the first year, the red 

 plastron is divided into squarish fields by the proportionately wide 

 yellow sutures. These markings disappear after the third year. On 

 top of the shell all the sutures are of a rather wide band of grayish. 

 The soft parts are dark brown or blackish, nicely marked with yellow, 

 symmetrical lines and bands on the head, and orange red bands on 

 the neck, limbs and tail. The yellow bands under the chin usually 

 form a fork in the middle, the prongs projecting backward. Another 

 yellow line starts from below the nostrils, runs through the posterior 

 end of the jaws, ending below the orbit. Two yellow lines start also 

 at the nostrils, running through the eye, the lower one — the wider — 

 on the side of the neck to the body, the upper one stopping above the 

 tympanum. There are numerous narrow lines parallel to these heavier 

 ones. 



Size. — Length of carapace 146 mm.; width of same 110 mm.; total 

 depth 51 mm. Length of plastron 141 mm. 



Habitat. — So far I have only found this turtle on the 

 east side of the Mississippi River, in Madison, St. Clair, 

 and Monroe Counties, 111. 



Habits. — The Red-bellied Turtle used to be common in 

 the slow running creeks, ponds and sloughs some thirty 

 years ago, but is now quite scarce. Wading in the shal- 

 low sloughs I found most of my specimens in June. 



91. Chrysemys belli Gray. Bell's Turtle. 



Chrysemys cinerea var. belli, Chrysemys oregonensis, Chrysemys nut- 

 talii, Chrysemys pulchra, Chrysemys picta part, Clemmys oregonen- 

 sis, Clemmys picta var. o and c, Emys oregonensis, Emys belli. 



Description. — Shell depressed; no keel; uniformly concave above; 

 margins nearly continuous; a very slight notch behind; nuchal plate 

 elongated, nearly parallel and notched in front. Plastron truncate be- 

 hind; outer angles of gulars projecting. Head medium in size; jaws 

 weak. Fingers and toes fully webbed; nails strong and sharp. (Gar- 

 man.) 



