20 REPTILES OF THE WORLD 



to be trusted, though they seldom actually dart at one's 

 finger like the snapping turtles. When alarmed they 

 completely withdraw the head and limbs, but a spirit of 

 curiosity soon prompts the head to peep a short distance 

 from the protective armor; then it is that the razor-like 

 mandibles spring open at a slight movement on the part 

 of an observer and close in lightning fashion upon any 

 object that may touch them. The writer has seen a 

 nervous turtle cleanly amputate a chunk of its own fore- 

 limb as it felt that member come in contact with the 

 jaws; if the mandibles miss the intended object they 

 come together with a snap that intimates unpleasant 

 possibilities for the unwary. 



The Cooter, C. concinna, of the southeastern United 

 States, is a large, handsome terrapin, with olive, yellow- 

 barred carapace ; each of the marginal shields contains a 

 yellow, vertical line ; pale, crescentic markings cross from 

 one of these shields into another. The head is striped 

 with orange and red. A near relation is the Florida 

 Terrapin, C. flori&ana, at once distinct by the very high, 

 dome-like shell and the diminutive head. Apparently 

 restricted to southern Georgia and Florida, this fine ter- 

 rapin attains a length of shell of fourteen inches and a 

 weight of fourteen pounds. 



The Yellow-Bellied Terrapin, C. scabra, and the 

 Mobile Terrapin, C. elegans, are showy creatures, com- 

 monly seen in the markets. The former shows a decided 

 wrinkled (rugose) formation on the upper shell; the 

 latter is characterized in having a broad, scarlet band on 

 each side of the head. Each reaches a length of shell 

 of ten inches. The Yellow-Bellied Terrapin seems to 

 be restricted to the coast region of the eastern United 

 States, from Virginia to Georgia, while its near ally 

 ranges over a wide area — Ohio to Kansas, southward to 



