1894. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 319 



MALACLEMYS CENTRATA (L a t r e i 1 1 e) . 



The valued diamond-back terrapin is caught in the salt marshes along 

 the east coast. I obtained several specimens at Hillsboro River, out- 

 side New Smyrna, Volusia County. 



TERRAPENE CAROLINA (L i n n a; u s ). 



The box-turtle is not very common in the southern part of Florida. I 

 saw only two specimens in Orange County, viz, at Apopka and Clarcona. 

 It IS said to be more abundant around St. Augustine. 



GOPHERUS POLYPHEMUS (Dan din). 



The "gopher" is common in the dry woods of south Florida. It is 

 diurnal in its habits and is often seen walking about feeding between 

 11 a. m. and 3 p. m. When disturbed it retracts its head and feet with 

 a hissing sound, like that of a snake, and sometimes tries to bite. The 

 people do not use these animals for food, but sometimes chop them up 

 and give them to the chickens. It is said that the holes are dug down 

 to the ground water. A good many animals, as rabbits, snakes, frogs, 

 etc., seek a refuge in the gopher holes, which are of particular pro- 

 tection to them when the grass in the woods is burnt oif. 



Lately there was discovered a (juite interesting fauna of insects, partly- 

 blind, wliich live in these holes. * 



KINOSTERNON BAURII (Garman). 



At three different places in Orange County I collected this little tur- 

 tle, which is new for the peninsula, but has been found at Key West 

 and in Cuba before. I saw it first in Fern Creek, near Orlando, later 

 at Apopka and Oviedo, in the same county. It is easily distinguished 

 from K. pensilvanicum by the different development of the plastron 

 and the color, etc. On the head there are always two pale yellow 

 streaks, one from the tip of the nose backwards through the upper 

 margin of the eye, the other one from the inferior margin of the eye and 

 backwards. Below there are two broader bands of the same color on 

 the inferior surface of the mandibula. The carapace shows three pale 

 longitudinal bands. The shell is not smooth, but worn and eroded by 

 parasitic alg;e. 



One of the specimens collected in Orange County is now in the I^. S. 

 National Museum (No. 21326). 



KINOSTERNON PENSILVANICUM (Gmelin). 



This species is quite common in some localities in the small lakes and 

 creeks, etc.; for instance, in Fern Creek, near Orlando, Orange County. 

 It is sometimes called the mud turtle. 



* Henry Hibbard, Science, xxii, August 4, 1893, i>]>. 57-58. 



