/ BLANDING’S BOX TORTOISE. 659 
Color above brown, often tinged with reddish; neck often with a yellow line upon 
side, but not a prominent blotch; plastron yellow, with black blotches; under side of 
neck, legs, and tail reddish, sprinkled with black ; plates of the carapax with concentric 
and radiating stris on each, strongly marked, often with fine tuberculous points 
within; vertebral plates transversely oblong, hexagonal, and alternating with the 
costals; the first “pentagonal, the last irregularly sub-hexagonal ; marginal plates 
twenty-five, with a wave-like indentation, and a distinct notch behind; plastron with a 
deep notch between the two anal plates; preanal plates broader than the pectoral; all 
the plates of the plastron quadrilateral except the gular, which are triangular; sternal 
shields often with visible concentric striw. Lenght, 8-10 inches. 
Habitat, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; west to 
Eastern Ohio. 
Rare in the State. ; 
The Sculptured Tortoise, called also Wood Turtle, and Fresh Water 
Terrapin, occurs usually in dry flelds, but I have seen them in meadows 
and along the borders of streams in spring. They are much less aquatic 
than any of the other genera of the family, and in early spring the 
males and females seemed to be together in damp localities. Later I 
was able to find only females, and these were uniformly filled with eggs. 
I had an opportunity from April to June, 1878, of observing them near 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and in numerous cases found their flanks covered 
with leaches, also saw small Helicide adhering to their limbs, thus show- 
ing one of the means of distribution of the latter group of animals. They 
repair in autumn to streams and ponds, and prepare to hybernate by 
burying themselves in mud. They are timid and retiring animals, but 
when excessively irritated will snap at the offensive object, their means of 
defence being a withdrawal into, and closure of the shell around them. 
They emit a piping note, and feed upon the low field: blackberry and 
other vegetables. 
GENUS EMYS. Brogniart. 
Carapax elongated, keelless, oval, considerably arched, and broadest posteriorly ; 
plastron with a more or less movable transverse hinge between the pectoral and 
abdominal plates, and joined to the carapax by a ligamentous suture; head depressed ; 
tympanum distinct ; upper mandible notched ; alveolar margins narrow; eyes and nos- 
trils large. 
EMYS MFLEAGRIS Shaw. 
Bliandings’s Box WTertoise. 
Testudo meleagris, SHAW. 
Lutremys meleagris, GRAY, LECONTE. 
Cistudo blandingii, HOLBROOK, DEKay, STORER. 
Emys meleagris, AGASSIZ, COPE, JORDAN. 
