THE ANATOMY OF THE RED-BELLIED 

 SLIDER TERRAPIN (Pseudemys rugosa).^ 



1. General External Appearance. — Note the hard case 

 in which most of the animal is enclosed, and which va- 

 ries in tint considerably in different specimens ; on the 

 whole it is dark brown above, and orange-red and yel- 

 low beneath. 



The case consists of a convex dorsal plate, the cara- 

 pace, and a ventral flat plate, the plastron, united at 

 the sides by bony bridges, but separate anteriorly and 

 posteriorly, leaving large open spaces, in which can be 

 seen certain soft parts covered by wrinkled, scaly skin 

 and protected by the projecting edges of the carapace 

 and plastron. 



Most of the skin is dark, with bright yellow stripes ; 

 but in the hollows which receive the hind limbs when 

 withdrawn, and often also in the corresponding hol- 

 lows for the fore limbs, it is almost white. 



2. Insert a tenaculum into the soft parts beneath the 

 head and draw out the latter ; force open the mouth 

 and direct a pipette, containing about a teaspoonful of 

 chloroform, into the opening of the glottis, which will 

 be found in an elevation at the base of the tongue ; 

 then blow the chloroform into the lungs. This will 

 very soon kill the animal. Meanwhile, note the long, 



* Ptychemys rugosa (Ag.). Emys rubriventris (Holbr.). 



