Norris and Zweifel (1950:1) observed _T. o. luteola_ on the Jornada del Muerto, an elongate plain approximately 4500 feet high, in southeastern Socorro County, New Mexico; box turtles were abundant on the level part of the plain and on the bordering foothills but not at higher elevations where the substratum was rocky. The authors otherwise noted no preference for any kind of soil. The principal elements of the plant associations in which the turtles were found were creosote bush, yucca, mesquite, juniper, tarbush, and grasses. Lewis (1950:3) reported that _T. ornata luteola_ inhabited the yucca-grassland zone in Dona Ana County, New Mexico; he stated (_op. cit._: 10) that individuals were commonly found on roads after rains and in cloudy weather. No specimens were taken at altitudes higher than 4300 feet. I have examined specimens of _luteola_ from elevations of approximately 5500 feet in Cochise County, Arizona, and Lincoln County, New Mexico. These localities are probably at or near the maximum elevation at which the species occurs. The texture of the substrate is the most important factor limiting vertical distribution. Ornate box turtles, like nearly all other turtles, excavate nests; _T. ornata_ is a burrower, at least for purposes of hibernation. Populations of the species, therefore, could not survive in areas of hard unyielding substrata. Such substrata seem to be the most important factor limiting altitudinal distribution. Most of the area in which _T. ornata_ occurs is semiarid or arid. Average precipitation in the warm season (April through September) varies from approximately 25 inches in the northeast to less than ten inches in the southwest. In drier parts of the range, precipitation is unevenly distributed over the warm season. Long, hot, dry periods are unfavorable for reptilian activity. _T. ornata_, like many other reptiles inhabiting dry regions, survives long periods without water by seeking shelter (usually underground) and remaining quiescent. Populations of the subspecies _luteola_ live under far more rigorous conditions in this respect than do the more northern populations. Specimens of _luteola_ from Arizona that were kept for several years in the laboratory under dry conditions and fed adequately, but at infrequent intervals, were able to remain healthy and even to grow whereas examples of _ornata_ kept under the same conditions soon languished and died; _luteola_ seems to be physiologically adapted for existence under arid conditions, where normal activity is sometimes possible for only a few weeks in the year. The prairies of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and northern Texas seem to provide the most nearly optimum habitat for the species; in these regions box turtles are active on a large majority of the days from April to October in years having average or better than average precipitation and population density seems to be greater than in the more arid parts of the range.