Observations on the Chelonians 



of North. America. VI. 



DR. R. W. 5HUFELDT, C. M. Z. 5. 



Young of the Wood Tortoise 



Chelopus insculptus 



Some time during the early part of 

 October, 191 9, the well-known Washing- 

 ton aquariculturist, Mr. Edward S. 

 Schmid, received a consignment of a 

 large number of very young pond turtles 

 of several species, all of which had been 

 taken by collectors in the District of Co- 

 lumbia. Among these interesting speci- 

 mens occurred one, the like of which he 

 had never seen before of all the thou- 

 sands of young turtles he has possessed 

 in his time ; neither was it known to me, 

 for I had never seen one like it, either 

 in life or literature. With his usual gen- 

 erosity, Mr. Schmid duly presented me 

 with this curious little chelonian, and it 

 is now in my possession, alive, and in 

 excellent condition. A few hours after 

 receiving it, I handed it to Dr. Leonard 

 Stejneger, Chief Curator of the U. S. 

 National Museum, for identification. He 

 found that it had never been figured in 

 any work known to him, and, turning to 



the great chelonian collection of that in- 

 stitution, it was found to be, upon com- 

 parison, the very young of the Wood 

 Tortoise (Chelopus insculptus). which 

 Doctor Stejneger surmised before any 

 comparisons were made. It was found 

 that the National Museum possessed but 

 three young specimens of this species, 

 and the smallest one of them was fully 

 three times the size of my specimen, and 

 quite differently marked. Later on I 

 made photographs of it, natural size, 

 while it was under water in a shallow, 

 white-lined pan, and these give it from 

 above and below. It is shown here in 

 Figure 1, while the figures of the young 

 of our common Snapping Turtle ( C. ser- 

 pentina) are presented in Figure 2 for 

 comparison. These latter I also photo- 

 graphed from life from specimens kindly 

 placed at my disposal by Mr. Schmid ; 

 the upper and lower views are of different 

 individuals. 



