Ornate box turtles, referred to as "land terrapins" or "land
tortoises" over most of the range of the species, are regarded by most
persons whom I have queried as innocuous. These turtles occasionally
damage garden crops and have been known to eat the eggs of upland game
birds. _Terrapene ornata_ is seldom used for food. A. B. Leonard told
me the species was eaten occasionally by Arapaho Indians in Dewey
County, Oklahoma. Several specimens in the University of Kansas
Archeological Collections were found in Indian middens in Rice County,
Kansas, from a culture dated approximately 1500 to 1600 A. D. The
flesh of _T. ornata_ occasionally may be toxic if the turtle has eaten
toxic fungi as has been recorded for _T. carolina_ (Carr, 1952:147).