TURTLES AND BATRACHIANS OF THE LAKE REGION. 



493 



The Painted Turtle varies somewhat in color, the ground-color in most 

 of the examples being a brownish-black. In some eases there is a considerable 

 mixture of green in the ground-color, giving the whole shell a somewhat 

 liveher hue. In some examples seen the hues between the scutes of the cara- 

 pace wei'e red, and there were other markings of red on the back — some- 

 times a red dorsal median line and a small red spot in the middle of each of 

 some of the scutes. These color-markings were observable at some distance 

 while the turtles were in the water and made the turtles possessing them ob- 

 jects of peculiar beauty. As the epidermal scutes of these turtles grow old 

 they occasionally become covered with various growths. An alga which 

 appears to belong to the genus Microspora grows on the dorsal scutes, and, less 

 frequently a branched stalked protozoan, Opercularia, grows on the ventral 

 scutes. Sometime during the year, usually in the late summer, the turtles 

 shed these epidermal scutes, and can frequently be seen -wath some clean 

 new scutes and old overgrown ones. At the end of the shedding period they 

 come forth bright and new, their colors apparently much clearer. In the 

 autumn of 1906 one of these turtles was caught with the alga on it in fruit, 

 the base of the alga being green, while the fruiting tips had a reddish east. 



There is considerable variation in the epidermal scutes of this turtle, 

 one frequently being added irregularly. An example caught in 1906 had 2 

 additional triangular scutes, symmetrically placed at the anterior corners of 

 the anterior dorsal scute. In some cases the anterior marginal scute, and those 

 on each side of it are ornamented with peculiar serrations. 



Excepting the musk and spotted turtles this is the smallest species found 

 in this region. Its maximum length is bout 6 inches and the maximum weight 

 three-quarters of a pound. The following table gives the weights and meas- 

 urements of a number examined. 



MEASURlilMENTS OF PAINTED TURTLES. 



Several j^oung seen May 22 were each about the size of a silver quarter. 



