12 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



THE PAINTED TORTOISE 



Emys picta, 

 PLATE V. FIG. 10 — (STATE COLLECTION ) 



Testudo piaa. Gm. Schneid. Schildkrof. p. 34S. 



T. id. ScHCEPFF, Hist. Test. p. 23, pi. 4. (Adult.) 



?'. ciTierea. Id. pi. 3. fig. 3. (Young.) 



Tortuepnnte. Dadd. Hist. Rept. Vol. 2, p. 164. 



E.picta. Say, Ac. Sc. Vol. 4, p. 211. Le Conte, Ann. I.yc. Vol. 3, p. 115 



E. id. Harlan, Med. & Phys. p. 151. 



E. belli!. Gray, Synops. p. 12. 



E.picta et bellii DuMER. & Bib. Hist. Rep. Vol. 2, p. 297 and 302. 



E.picta. HoLBROOK, N. Am. Herp. Vol. 2, p. 19, pi. 3. Storer, Mass. Rep. p. 20ij. 



E. id. Id. N. Am. Herp. Ed. 2da, Vol. 1, p. 75, pi. 10. 



Characteristics. Shell oblong, oval, smooth ; olive, with a yellow stripe along the sutures. 

 Head with yellow lines along the sides. Neck and feet with red stripes. 

 Length 5-9 inches. 



Description. Shell oblong, oval, not carinated, smooth, minutely notched behind. First 

 vertebral plate with projecting acute lateral angles in front, rounded or sinuous behind ; the 

 two following irregularly quadrate ; the third having a small projection forward on its anterior 

 margin ; the fourth hexagonal, with sinuous sides ; the last obscurely hexagonal. Of the 

 lateral plates, the first is irregularly four-sided, the margin contiguous to the second vertebral 

 plate shortest ; the second is by far the largest, and the posterior smallest. The intermediate 

 marginal plate linear, often doubly notciied or bidentate in front ; the first and second pair, 

 together with the eighth and ninth on each side, largest. Sternum solid, elliptical, oval, finely 

 serrate in front, the medial line often irregular ; scapular plates triangular, with a slight knob- 

 like process at the exterior angles, which project beyond the margin ; pectoral plates narrow. 

 Head moderate ; upper jaw notched, with a slight process on each side of the emargination. 

 Feet palmate, with five slender, acute and nearly straight claws in front, and four behind. 

 Tail short, scaly, cylindrical. Independent of the sutures indicated externally on the shell by 

 the markings, there are others concealed by the scaly epidermis. 



Color. This varies exceedingly in different individuals, but the following is tlie most usual 

 distribution : Shell olive brown or blackish, with irregularly dilated yellow lines, bordered 

 with black along the suture. A very narrow yellow dorsal line from the margin of the inter- 

 mediate plate, to the spacfe between the two posterior marginal plates. The upper surfaces 

 of the marginal plates with parallel vertical yellow lines, or else with concentric lines of the 

 same color ; occasionally these lines become abbreviated, disconnected, and sometimes small 

 orbicular yellow or reddish spots margined with black ; the under side of these plates yellow 

 or reddish, with rounded or sub-quadrate dark spots. Sternum yellow or deep orange ; all 

 the plates towards the medial line with irregular concentric approximated dusky lines ; these 

 lines becoming occasionally confluent, and extending irregularly along the sutures toward the 



