The Box Turtles 



and, by the force of its impact, sent the creature tumbling over 

 the stony ground to produce the deep scars about the edge of 

 the shell, if such were the case, the reptile being full-grown 

 when the injury was inflicted — the severe nature of the wound 

 would stunt all subsequent growth — it had lived many years to 

 attain its size, then possessed the tenacity to recover from the 

 wound and afterward continued to live for nearly forty years after. 

 It may interest the reader to know that tiiis turtle is, at the 

 time of writing, thriving in captivity. 



The eggs of the Box Turtle are ovoidal in shape and covered 

 with a thm, but hard shell. They are buried in soft ground, 

 or secreted under leaves, it is an interesting, but curious fact, 

 that the very young specimens are very rarely found. 



When retiring for the winter, this turtle burrows to some 

 depth in soft ground. This was well illustrated by the experi- 

 ence of a friend of the writer, who was engaged in the melan- 

 choly duty of digging a grave for a large, pet dog. The animal 

 had died in January and a severe frost had hardened the ground 

 for a distance of five inches. After breaking through this it 

 was easy digging and as the gentleman had reached a depth 

 of about two feet he unearthed a Box Turtle, which showed feeble 

 signs of life. 



THE LARGE BOX TURTLE 



Cistudo major, (Agassiz) 



The name of this species is quite appropriate. It attains 

 the greatest size of any of the box turtles — growing to a length 

 of seven inches. The carapace is high and globular and flares 

 out distinctly on the rear margin. There is a blunt keel in the 

 centre. As this species has four claws on the hind foot, it may 

 be readily distinguished from Baur's Box Turtle, into the range 

 of which it enters in the east. 



Colouration. — The carapace is dark brown, with yellow 

 spots arranged in radiating fashion, while there is a yellow band 

 on the keel. The greater part of the plastron is yellow, although 

 the edges of the shields are tinged with black. On the head is 

 a considerable amount of yellow markings. 



Distribution. — Florida and Georgia, westward to the Rio 

 Grande. 



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