116 



Aquatic ILitt 



Illinois, where they are abundant, and he 

 has favored me with both living and dead 

 specimens of several sizes. Of the for- 

 mer I have made a number of photo- 

 graphs, a very good one of which is here 

 reproduced in Figure i. It is natural 

 size, and was a most difficult subject to 

 photograph — that is, with its head, limbs 

 and tail in full sight. This achievement 

 cost me nearly six hours spent in con- 

 secutive trials. 



The dorsal and ventral views (Figs. 2 

 and 3) are from a specimen that had been 



Superior and Ventral Views of 

 Lesueur's Terrapin 



dead but a few hours previous to my pho- 

 tographing it. These cuts present many 

 of the specific, as well as generic char- 

 acters of this form, and special attention 

 is invited to the large feet and long tail, 

 as well as the tuberculated ridge down 

 the median line of the carapace seen on 

 side view in Figure 1. 



In several specimens before me at this 

 writing I find the color of the carapace 

 to be of a deep olive brown, varying 



somewhat in different individuals. 

 Blackish-brown splotches, one on each 

 shield, are more or less distinctly seen. 

 In some cases they are very well marked, 

 but they unfortunately do not come out 

 in these photographs. Below, the plas- 

 tron is of a grayish yellow, and sometimes 

 presents a deeper marbling near the mar- 

 gins of the scutes (Fig. 3). The head, 

 limbs and tail are of a deep brownish 

 olive, figured in various ways by fine 

 lines of yellow, with a sharply defined 

 small area of the same color on either 

 side of the head — back of and above 

 either eye. A median stripe of yellow 

 runs the length of the tail, one above and 

 one below. 



The median length of the carapace in 

 this species may sometimes be found to 

 measure nearly ten inches and its width 

 over seven. 



Lesueur's Terrapin is an abundant spe- 

 cies throughout the valley of the Missis- 

 sippi, and may be found as far to the east- 

 ward as Ohio ; it is sold in numbers in 

 the Chicago markets. It is a delicate 

 form by nature and does not bear cap- 

 tivity well. Its habits are much the same 

 as those of any of the ordinary fresh- 

 water terrapins of its own size, and oc- 

 curring in the same locality. As a rule, 

 in the species of this genus the females 

 are larger than the males — markedly so 

 in some examples, while the long tails 

 are very conspicuous, this latter character 

 being particularly noticeable in the males. 

 Lesueur's Terrapin feeds largely upon 

 fresh-water snails and other small mol- 

 lusca, and such food they can easily crush 

 through the use of the broad, hard sur- 

 face just within the margin of the man- 

 dible on either side, as well as in similar 

 localities, and opposite them, in the upper 

 jaw. These gringing surfaces are accu- 

 rately opposed to each other — that is, the 

 pair above and the pair below ; so that 

 adult individuals of this terrapin are, 

 through their use, quite capable of crush- 

 ing the shells of ordinary snails and other 

 small molluscs. 



