Strong odors were produced by nearly all small juveniles until they became accustomed to being handled. Older juveniles and adults produced strong odors only in response to pain or injury, as, for example, when they were killed in the laboratory prior to preservation or when they were being marked in the field. Young box turtles were capable of producing strong odors as soon as they hatched. Norris and Zweifel (1950:3) considered the odor produced by _T. o. luteola_ to issue from the "... concentrated, highly pungent urine...." voided by individuals when they were disturbed, and thought the production of odor to be a defense mechanism. Neill (1948b:130) reported that hatchlings of _T. carolina_ with unhealed umbilical scars emitted a musky odor comparable to that of the stinkpot, _Sternotherus odoratus_; he thought the capacity to produce this odor was lost at about the time that the plastral hinge became functional. The function of musk glands in _Terrapene_ and, in all other turtles, is unknown. Since biting and nuzzling of the edges of the shell is an integral part of the courtship of many turtles, odor produced by the musk glands may well be a means of social recognition or of sexual stimulation. Repellant odor may have a protective value in young box turtles but it is unlikely that larger predators would be frightened away or even discouraged by odor alone. In this respect Neill (_loc. cit._) and I concur. DISCUSSION OF ADAPTATIONS Most of the morphological characteristics distinguishing box turtles from other North American emyid turtles, the most notable of which is the movable plastron, are modifications that have evolved as a result of selectional pressures favoring adaptation to more or less terrestrial existence. Similar adaptations have arisen independently in several branches of the emyid stock (see introduction). The genus _Terrapene_ seems to have departed farther from a generalized emyid form than have other kinds of box-turtle-like chelonians. In a morphological sense, _Terrapene ornata_ is clearly the most specialized member of its genus now occurring in the United States (my own studies have revealed that populations in western Mexico now referred to as _T. klauberi_ and _T. nelsoni_ are as specialized as _T. ornata_ in some respects but more generalized in others). The present ecological study has demonstrated that _T. ornata_ is specialized in habits as well as in structure. It is concluded that these specializations (of more generalized and perhaps more primitive conditions as, for example in _T. carolina_) constitute adaptation for terrestrial existence in open, semiarid habitats. These adaptations in _T. ornata_ have resulted, in a few instances, in unique habits and structures; however, in most instances the adaptations have produced slight but recognizable changes that are definable only by degree of difference from other species of box turtles.