TERRARIA AND AQUA-TERRARIA 



broad plates below. The tail is short, slightly conical and bears a num- 

 ber of rattles. The color of the head above is ashy-brown or yellowish, 

 and the body and tail yellowish-brown, overlaid with three rows of con- 

 fluent irregular brown spots and cross-blotches, darker at the tail. Length 

 60 inches. Inhabits rocky places from New England to the Rocky 

 Mountains and south. This is the most common once abundant species, 

 but now nearly exterminated except in wild and uninhabited localities. 

 Another more western form is C. adamanteus (Beau.), the Diamond Rattle- 

 snake, and Sistrurus catenatus (Raf ), the Prairie Rattlesnake. 



LoRicATA. Alligators and Crocodiles belong to this order. They 

 are cold-blooded animals, body elongated and rounded, covered with 

 plates, scales or granulations, limbs four and tail elongated, mouth large, 

 armed with teeth. Of this order only the Alligator is found in the United 

 States. Alligator mississippiensis (Daud.), the one species of American giant 

 reptile, is a native of southern waters, living in stagnant ponds and deep 

 morasses. Its range at one time extended along the Atlantic border from 

 the Neus river in North Carolina south, and west as far as New Orleans, 

 and up the Mississippi as far as the Red river. The persecutions of the 

 last half century have restricted it to localities difficult of access, although 

 the very young are sometimes to be had of northern dealers. 



Testudinata. Turtles belong to the order Testudinata, cold- 

 blooded animals, body enclosed between two bony shells, the carapace and 

 plastron; neck and tail only flexible parts of the spinal column, these and 

 the legs usually retractile within the shields; no teeth, but jaws armed 

 with horny sheaths with cutting edges ; respiration by swallowing air. 

 There are a considerable number of Eastern and Middle States species 

 which will be briefly described : 



Terrapene Carolina (Linn.), or Box Turtle, has a nearly hemispherical 

 carapace and somewhat smaller plastron, a narrow elongated head, the 

 upper jaw emarginate with a broad hook, and the lower jaw with a smaller 

 one. The fore-legs short with five digits and short thick nails, the hind- 

 legs short and flattened at the tarsus, with five digits and four nails. The 

 tail is short and thick with blunt point. Usually the carapace is yellow- 

 ish-brown with spots and stripes of bright yellow, sometimes radiating or 

 disposed without order, to appear like tortoise-shell. Length of carapace 

 6% in., breadth 4^ in., elevation 2^ in., length of plastron 5^^ in. It 

 is entirely a land animal, found generally in the New England and Mid- 

 dle States and south. 



Gopherus polyphemus (Daud.), or Gopher Turtle, has a depressed, 

 flattened carapace and thick plastron prolonged beyond the shell in front; 

 a short, thick and obtuse head, serrated jaws with horny plates, short neck 



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