aquatic JLite 



89 



pressed, being of a rich olive when wet, 

 and the borders of the scutes deeply 

 emarginated with pale yellow. Border of 

 carapace sharp, and of even, unnotched 

 contour. Claws sharp, sometimes long, 

 and black. 



In the Western Painted Terrapin (C. 

 marginata), the yellow surface of the 

 plastron has a median, elongate, blackish 

 area that varies in intensity, length and 

 width. The carapacial emarginations are 

 much narrower than in C. picta. This 

 terrapin is found in ponds, lakes and 

 similar places throughout the Central 

 States southward to Louisiana. It 

 ranges eastward to Western New York, 

 westward to Iowa. In general form it in 

 no way departs from its eastern relative 

 in the same genus. 



Recently I have been much indebted to 

 Mr. Edward S. Schmid, of 712 Twelfth 

 street, Washington, D. C, for a superb 

 series of Bell's Terrapin (Chrvscmys 

 belli) — more than twenty of them, and 

 all from central Illinois. This form 

 comes nearer to C. marginata than to 

 C. Picta, for the reason that it is not so 

 large a species (six inches), and it has 

 markings on its plastron. These mark- 

 ings vary for the individual in many par- 

 ticulars, and never agree in pattern. They 

 may be nearly symmetrical, or quite the 

 reverse — in any event they are respon- 

 sible for making this terrapin easily the 

 handsomest species in the United States 

 chelonian fauna. The ground color of 

 the plastron in Bell's terrapin is a deep 

 yellow, while the variegated, watered pat- 

 tern of the plastron, here well shown in 

 the cut for one individual, is black, bril- 

 liant red and yellow — the latter being the 

 ground color — overlaid with the black 

 and red of the pattern. The black 

 bounds the figure as a rule, as well as the 

 emargination of the interior pattern. 

 There are also, as in the cut, black dots 



and scraggly markings throughout the 

 general pattern. The stripings on the 

 head, limbs and tail are of a bright yellow 

 —lemon yellow. Compared with C. picta, 

 the red of the marginal scutes is not 

 nearly so brilliant. The pale scutal mar- 

 ginings of the carapace may be absent, 

 or, at the most, very narrow. 



Other species of aquatic chelonians will 

 be described later on. 



Lucania Ommata 



W. W. WELSH 



This little-known fish is one of the 

 smallest species of the Top Minnow fam- 

 ily, and not the least attractive of the 

 many beautiful forms included in this 

 group. It grows to a length of about 1% 

 inches. The sexes differ in coloration, 

 and in the length of the dorsal and anal 

 fins, but do not differ much in size, the 

 male being only slightly smaller than the 

 female. The female is more brilliantly 

 colored and more strikingly marked than 

 the male, which is unusual. 



The male of this species is almost uni- 

 form brown, somewhat lighter beneath, 

 with a darker longitudinal band along the 

 side, and in small examples traces of 

 dark vertical bars on the after portion of 

 the body. At the base of the caudal fin 

 there is a large black ocellated spot. The 

 back of the female is brownish, the rest 

 of the body being straw color to yellow, 

 and the brown lateral band is more in- 

 tense and much more sharply marked off 

 than in the male. In addition to the 

 caudal ocellus there is a black ocellated 

 spot in the lateral above the vent, sharply 

 defined forward, but grading into the 

 lateral band behind. 



As far as known, this species has been 

 reported only from Florida, where it is 

 found among the vegetation in shallow 

 water along the edge of cypress swamps 

 and in ditches leading to them. It ap- 



