BLANDINGS BOX TURTLE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 69 
Blanding’s Box Turtle In New Hampshire. 
BY WILLIAM H. HUSE. 
When the paper on the turtles of New Hampshire was writ¬ 
ten for the June number of Nature Study I supposed that the 
six species there enumerated were all that were found in the 
state. On the 23d of that month there was brought to me a 
specimen of Emys meleagris, or Blanding’s box turtle. It was 
found in the southern part of Manchester near Cohas brook. 
Dekay, in his Natural History of New York, published in 1842, 
says that this tortoise was found by Dr. Storer in Haverhill, 
N. H., but in Storer’s report on the reptiles of Massachusetts he 
speaks of a specimen being sent to him from “ Haverhill ” in 
such connection that it is probable that he meant Haverhill, 
Mass. If this opinion be correct the specimen brought ine last 
June is the first one found in New Hampshire of which there is 
any record. The turtle I have is a male. The shell measures seven 
and one-half inches long and five inches wide. The carapace is 
black, each plate being covered with small, light yellow spots, 
smaller and more numerous than those on the spotted tortoise. 
These are distributed somewhat irregularly, but seem to radiate 
from the posterior side of the middle row of plates and the 
inner posterior corner of each lateral plate. The plastron is 
light yellow with a black blotch in the outer posterior corner of 
each plate. The head and neck are black above and yellow 
beneath, this color extending back neatly to the shell. This 
yellow is one of the most conspicuous things about the turtle. 
There is quite a noticeable notch in the front of the upper jaw. 
The neck can be stretched out to the length of rive inches. 
The skin of the neck and flanks is rough, that of the legs, 
imbricated. The outer toes on the hind feet are without nails. 
The tail is rather long, much more so than that of the box tur¬ 
tle. In fact, the limbs, with the head and tail, cannot all be en¬ 
closed by the shell at the same time. The plastron is hinged in 
the same way as that of its relative, which is much better boxed. 
Blanding’s box turtle is thought to be the connecting link be¬ 
tween the common tortoises and the box turtles. 
