File:Aquatic life (1918-1919) (19721245536).jpg

Title: Aquatic life
Identifier: aquaticlife419181919baus (find matches)
Year: 1918-1919 (1910s)
Authors: Bausman, Joseph E
Subjects: Aquariums; Fish culture
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. E. Bausman
Contributing Library: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library

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156 Aquatic liitz ing been presented to me by Mr. Edward S. Schmid, of Washington, who had a number of this species of turtle in a tank at his establishment. These figures show very well the slight difference in the form of the eggs of the two genera. All are pure white and ellipsoidal in form. Our common Spotted Turtle is so well known that it requires no special de- scription. The upper shell is always black, with scattered, round, yellow spots; the plastron may be yellow or salmon color, with a central figure of black, the latter subject to great varia- tion. The head is black with yellow markings, particularly with a deep yellow spot over the auricular opening. This familiar pond turtle is almost en- tirely aquatic by habit, being found in streams, ponds, ditches with water in them, etc. It feeds under water, and will eat of the leaves of certain plants, such as lettuce and the like. The male has a long tail and the female a very short one. It occurs from Northern Maine to North Carolina, westward to the Mississippi Valley. It rarely exceeds four inches in length of shell or carapace. The Western Pond Turtle, with habits quite similar to the last, is also a blackish species, yellow spots and dashes marking each shield of the carapace, the dashes running from the shield's centre to its margin in every instance. The brown limbs are spotted with yellow or black, as is also the head. This is a Pacific Coast species, and the only species of pond turtle of that entire region. Muhlenberg's Turtle is also a black species with yellow blotches on its plas- tron, and a very distinctive bright orange spot on either side of the head, not far i rom the auricular opening. It runs about four inches for the length of its shell, and is aquatic in its habits. Thus far it has been found only in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania—Staten Island being the centre of its abundance. Coming to the Wood Terrapin, a spe- cies I have had in confinement for months at a time, we have under consid- eration a species that is strictly a land tortoise, which may attain a length of carapace of seven inches. It is fond of damp woods, and takes to the water only as it rambles around through them. The
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species is of an affectionate disposition and wonderfully intelligent for a chelo- nian. This is an entirely different reptile from any of the foregoing species, its carapace having a conspicuous keel, each shield of which is deeply marked with concentric grooves, giving the while a sculptured appearance as though done with some tool or other. This shell is of a pale earth-brown, with radiating yel- low lines and various spots on each shield. Limbs and top of head dull sal- mon color, or in some specimens a brighter red.

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