Reptiles mid Amphibians of Illinois. 229 



Color above light olive-gray, varying sometimes to brown- 

 ish red, with yellow stripes and obscure black lines. Beneath 

 yellow, with a large central spot of black, and sometimes a 

 blotch of blood-red on each plate. Head striped with orange 

 and yellow, finely above, more coarsely on the sides and be- 

 neath. Iris greenish yellow, black before and behind the pu- 

 pil. A wide orange-red stripe extends from the posterior mar- 

 gin of the eye backwards upon the neck, where it becomes 

 narrower. A yellow stripe extends from the lower margin of 

 the eye downward and backward between the angle of the 

 mouth and the tympanum and thence along the neck. On 

 the middle line, extending from the tooth of the mandible, is a 

 stripe which soon bifurcates and sends backward on the infe- 

 rior surface of the neck two large divergent stripes. A stripe 

 about midway between the tooth of the lower jaw and the 

 angle of the mouth unites with one starting at the lower bor- 

 der of the eye, or may terminate short of it. The legs and 

 tail are striped with yellow. 



Carapace of small examples about 4 inches long is 3.12 

 inches wide and 1.62 inch deep. Adults reach a length of 8 

 inches or more. 



Occurs in the larger streams of the southern two thirds of 

 the State. Moderately common. Quincy, Henry, Peoria, 

 Pekin, Havana, Mt. Carmel. 



A handsome species, approaching the painted turtles in 

 the beauty of its colors. Yv^hen the epidermal scales are re- 

 moved from the shell the pattern is very different; on the car- 

 apace the brown is entirely removed and the sub-epidermai 

 plates are concentrically lined with black and yellow. The 

 plates of the plastron when desquamated show a central black- 

 ish spot with a pale center, and are yellow elsewhere. 



Pseudemys troosti, Holbr. 



Emys troostii, Holbr., N. A. Herp., 1842, 1., p. 123, pi. 20. 



Trachemys troostii, Agassiz, L., Contr. Nat. Hist. U. IS., 1857, 1., 

 p. 435. 



Pseudemys troostii, Jordan, Man. Vert. N. U. S., 3d ed., 1880, p. 

 165.— Davis and Rice, Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist, I., 

 No. 5, 1883, p. 55; Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci., 1883. 



