LAKE ERIE TORTOISE. 87 



Description. Back elevated before, sloping to a point 

 behind, where the shell is deeply emarginate, subcarinate; 

 shield suboval, tlie sides pressed in; lower shell nearly as 

 long as the upper; /zc'aJ triangular, snout obtuse; mandibles 

 sharp, and without denticulations; forefeet five- clawed, 

 hind feet four-clawed, all the feet palmate. 



The vertebral scutella are of a hexagonal form, the 

 posterior one wider than long; the two centre lamincs^ on 

 each side of the disk, almost quadrangular; the scutella of 

 the margin are sharp, the three anterior pieces large, some- 

 what oblique, those in front sinuate, falling in on the collar 

 scutellum^ and projecting beyond the next — from the 

 fourth to the seventh they are narrow, and reflected, the 

 remainder subquadrangular, oblique, flat, sinuate, and 

 emarginate at their commissures: the lower, collar plates 

 furnished with small eminences, shell below smooth, and 

 covered with a thin epidermis, of a bay colour; shield 

 smooth, of a yellowish brown colour, mixed with ches- 

 nut, and ornamented with pale sinuous stripes, irregularly- 

 intersecting each other, these stripes approximating on 

 the vertebral scutella; the marginal pieces are bordered 

 above with black and yellow, below they are marked with 

 semiconcentric lines of yellow, black and red* the colour 

 of the head^ neck, tail and feet is dusky, with yellow 

 markings; the broadest part of the shield is at the eighth 

 marginal plate; anal scutella largely emarginate. Length 

 of the upper shell eight inches; width across the pectoral 

 plates five inches — the greatest width six inches, height of 

 the animal three inches. 



The stripes or markings on the disk, presenting the ap- 

 pearance of a geographical map, gave rise to the trivial 

 name which I have bestowed op this Tortoise. 



