The Inhabitants of the Aquarium 221 



rising above the surface of the water is 

 preferable. Most turtles become so tame 

 that after a while they take food from a 

 little stick, or even from the hand. All tur- 

 tles should be placed in aquariums when 

 quite small. They grow very slowly and 

 can be kept for many years, before their size 

 makes them unfit for confinement in a small 

 vessel. 



The Painted, or Mud Turtle (Chryscmis 

 picta), is the best known and the most com- 

 mon of all our water or swamp turtles. 

 The carapace is rather flat and on young 

 specimens has a strongly pronounced ridge 

 running from head to tail through the mid- 

 dle of the shell, which is of a greenish 

 black color. It is surrounded by a border 

 of small, so-called marginal plates. These 

 bear bright scarlet markings of a triangular 

 shape, so placed that the point of the triangle 

 is directed toward the inside. The under 

 margin of the carapace has broad and fairly 

 regular markings of the same color, alter- 



