﻿PAINTED 
  TURTLE. 
  

  

  369 
  

  

  only 
  late 
  in 
  the 
  summer, 
  the 
  young 
  had 
  only 
  been 
  hatched 
  six 
  months 
  when 
  picked 
  up, 
  though 
  

   they 
  are 
  considered 
  here 
  as 
  one 
  year 
  old, 
  on 
  account 
  of 
  the 
  long 
  period 
  of 
  incubation. 
  More- 
  

   over, 
  there 
  is 
  very 
  Uttle 
  difference 
  between 
  specimens 
  recently 
  hatched 
  and 
  those 
  collected 
  

   the 
  following 
  spring. 
  

  

  Table 
  shotving 
  Successive 
  Changes 
  in 
  the 
  Relative 
  Dimensions 
  of 
  the 
  Body 
  in 
  Chrysemys 
  picta. 
  

  

  "After 
  the 
  seventh 
  year, 
  it 
  is 
  much 
  more 
  difficult 
  to 
  distinguish 
  the 
  age 
  of 
  those 
  Turtles, 
  

   which, 
  like 
  Chrysemys 
  picta, 
  have 
  a 
  perfectly 
  smooth 
  epidermis, 
  than 
  during 
  the 
  earlier 
  years. 
  

   I 
  have, 
  however, 
  been 
  able 
  to 
  determine 
  it 
  with 
  tolerable 
  precision, 
  by 
  collecting 
  large 
  num- 
  

   bers 
  of 
  specimens 
  at 
  the 
  same 
  time 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  same 
  season, 
  and 
  assorting 
  them 
  according 
  to 
  

   their 
  size, 
  and 
  comparing 
  the 
  sets 
  thus 
  formed 
  with 
  specimens 
  of 
  other 
  species, 
  in 
  which 
  the 
  

   successive 
  lines 
  of 
  growth 
  indicate 
  the 
  number 
  of 
  their 
  years. 
  During 
  the 
  first 
  six 
  or 
  seven 
  

   years 
  the 
  rate 
  of 
  growth 
  is 
  so 
  uniform 
  that 
  numerous 
  specimens 
  collected 
  at 
  the 
  same 
  time 
  are 
  

   readily 
  arranged 
  in 
  sets 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  age, 
  simply 
  by 
  the 
  difference 
  they 
  show 
  in 
  their 
  size." 
  

  

  In 
  moulting, 
  the 
  skin 
  of 
  each 
  shield 
  is 
  shed 
  separately, 
  and 
  resembles 
  a 
  thin 
  sheet 
  of 
  mica. 
  

  

  Geographic 
  Distribution. 
  — 
  Its 
  range 
  is 
  eastern 
  North 
  America, 
  extending 
  northward 
  

   into 
  southern 
  Canada, 
  and 
  southward 
  to 
  Georgia. 
  West 
  of 
  Ohio 
  and 
  Indiana 
  it 
  is 
  replaced 
  

   by 
  a 
  closely 
  allied 
  species. 
  

  

  New 
  England 
  Records. 
  — 
  This 
  species 
  is 
  reported 
  from 
  all 
  of 
  the 
  New 
  England 
  States. 
  

   Verrill 
  (1863) 
  says 
  it 
  is 
  very 
  common 
  in 
  the 
  vicinity 
  of 
  Norway, 
  Oxford 
  County, 
  Maine, 
  and 
  

  

  