Abstract
TURTLES of the genus Malaclemys occur in isolated populations along the Louisiana coast. Reports of fishermen indicate that in some localities they are exceptionally abundant and are often taken in nets. The demand for these turtles as food is now limited and they are not usually brought to market. The difficulty of collecting them without special equipment has discouraged their study by herpetologists. The investigations of Hay, Hildebrand and others have contributed much to our knowledge of the life history of captive specimens but little information is available on natural populations. Too, most of the data reported on captives were derived from a study of a hybrid stock of two or three subspecies; Malaclemys terrapin terrapin (Schoepf) and Malaclemys terrapin centrata (Latreille), and of these two with Malaclemys terrapin littoralis Hay. It is difficult to relate the information so accrued to the existing populations. Two subspecies are reported to occur on the gulf coast from the Florida panhandle to southern Texas, Malaclemys terrapin pileata (Wied) and Malaclemys terrapin littoralis Hay. The ranges of neither of these is adequately defined. The two subspecies are reportedly different in these respects (Hay, 1904; Carr, 1946):
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