. Bulletin. Natural history; Natural history. November, 1961 Smith: Amphibians and Reptiles of Illinois 151 The versa Type.—The least common pat- tern, fig. 133C, can be regarded as a modi- fied kohni type. Three specimens, two from Morgan County, Illinois, and one from Posey County, Indiana, differ from the oua- chitensis, pseudogeographica, and kohni types in that each has a pair of large square or rectangular postorbital blotches that are isolated and surrounded by incomplete con- centric light rings. The chin spots and sub- orbital spots are large. One to 6 light lines enter the posterior
. Bulletin. Natural history; Natural history. November, 1961 Smith: Amphibians and Reptiles of Illinois 151 The versa Type.—The least common pat- tern, fig. 133C, can be regarded as a modi- fied kohni type. Three specimens, two from Morgan County, Illinois, and one from Posey County, Indiana, differ from the oua- chitensis, pseudogeographica, and kohni types in that each has a pair of large square or rectangular postorbital blotches that are isolated and surrounded by incomplete con- centric light rings. The chin spots and sub- orbital spots are large. One to 6 light lines enter the posterior border of the eye. The chin shows a tendency toward transverse, al- though broken, yellow stripes. The head of the male is extremely small for the body size of the animal. These specimens are in es- sential agreement with descriptions of versa. The current arrangement of the forms of this complex seems to be to recognize kohni and versa as full species and pseudogeograph- ica and ouachitensis as subspecies of pseudo- geographica that intergrade in a wide belt including Illinois and Indiana. If the head patterns are reliably diagnostic, we must as- sume that three species occur together and may even be taken at the same time in the same net. That three closely related species occur together seems very unlikely. An al- ternate possibility is that all the pattern types may occur as occasional variants in turtles of a single population. The simi- larity of all characters except head patterns lends credence to this possibility. A study of substantial series of these turtles from the Illinois and Mississippi rivers might resolve the problem involved; this is one of the most urgent problems in the herpetological taxon- omy of eastern United States. Habits.—The false map turtle, saw- back, or hackle-back, is strictly aquatic and so wary that capture is difficult. It is taken in numbers in fishermen's nets, and occa- sional individuals are caught by hook and line. The species is gre
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