48 SPOTTED TORTOISE. 



scribed, or Plcta ; its colour being equally remark- 

 able. In its shape it resembjes the former, having 

 a slightly convex, smooth shell, consisting of the 

 usual number of pieces, viz. thirteen on the middle 

 or disk, and twenty-five on the margin : the form 

 of the middle divisions is obscurely hexagonal, and 

 of the side ones subquadrangular ; every piece, 

 both of disk and margin being marked by a few 

 distantly placed, round, yellow spots, of dissimilar 

 size, but all rather small than large. Both spots 

 and ground colour vary somewhat in different spe- 

 cimens ; and it is observed that in such shells as 

 are deepest or blackest, the spots are of a paler or 

 more citron yellow : on the contrary, where the 

 shell inclines more to a chesnut or reddish brown, 

 the spots are of a deeper or more orange yellow. 

 This species, like the former, is rather small, and 

 is a native of North America, inhabiting rivers 

 and lakes. The young are scarcely larger than 

 pigeons' eggs, and are very black, beautifully 

 spotted with gold-colour. 



