TURTLES AND BATRACHIANS OP^ THE LAKE REGION. 



495 



A good many dead ones are found in the spring; the winter is probably 

 a critical period with them. 



These turtles are entirely harmless and should be protected. Their food 

 consists chiefly of crawfish, tadpoles, angleworms, and other weak animals 

 found about the water and in the marshes. 



The Speckled Turtle may be readilj^ distinguished from all others by the 

 following description: 



Shell moderately to strongly depressed, oval, widest behind, no trace of 

 keel in adult and scarcely evident in the young; nuchal scutes very narrow; 

 plastron large, the hinder lobe about three-fourths width of carapace, with a 

 shallow notch in posterior border; anterior lolie truncated, not movable on a 

 transverse hinge; plastron of male concave; snout not at all projecting; upper 

 jaw notched, the edge nearly straight; legs and feet covered with scales, 

 those on front limbs large and overlapping; feet not large, claws rather short, 

 the web not extensive; tail long, that of the male bringing the vent beyond 

 the carapace. 



General color of carapace black, patches of reddish brown showing through 

 the darker; on each scute from one to 12 round bright orange spots, each larger 

 than the pupil; plastron red, orange and black, the black predominating, the 

 orange usually occupying the center and the margin; head black above, with 

 orange dots, usually a large orange spot just above the ear; neck black, with 

 more or less red; shoulders with much red or orange; upper surface of limbs 

 black, with yellow and red, lower surfaces red and orange; tail black, red at 

 base. Length of carapace 4 to 5 inches. Weights and measurements of 14 

 examples are given in the following table. 



*In the last specimen the carapace had strong concentric striae and the plastron 

 parallel radiating striae. The tail was much larger than in the next preceding specimen. 



