1915.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 115 



scratches on the shell which are no doubt evidences of such en- 

 counters. 



Thirteen adults, four young and a large number of eggs were 

 brought out of the swamp and numbers were collected which were 

 not preserved. The month during which most of the specimens 

 were taken (June) seemed to be the egg-laying season. The eggs, 

 usually numbering from twelve to twenty, were found in the sand. 

 One female killed for soup, June 4, 1912, contained sixteen eggs 

 ready for depositing. A bear, killed May 30, had in its stomach 

 twelve eggs, one of which was whole, and signs were plentiful to 

 prove that the bears dug these eggs from the sand. When an egg 

 complement was found exposed or only partly covered by the sand, 

 or with the complement very small, the natives asserted that the 

 turtle had been disturbed in the midst of egg-laying by the attack 

 of bears or had been frightened from the eggs by these animals.^ 

 A king snake (Ophiholus getulus getulus, C. U., No. 6,147), captured 

 June 26, 1912, had fourteen eggs in its stomach. Another king 

 snake (C. U., No. 6,140), taken June 3, had thirteen eggs in its 

 stomach. The stomachs of three other specimens of the same 

 species of snake contained, respectively, one, two, and six eggs of 

 Chrysemijs floridana. It seems yqvj likely that other snakes and 

 perhaps other mammals, such as coons, find the eggs of this turtle 

 a palatable article of diet. The eggs were also eaten by the Lees, 

 and those eggs which w^ere immature and secured before fertiliza- 

 tion had taken place were pronounced by members of our party 

 excellent eating; the older eggs seemed bitter. 



The natives called this turtle the "cooter, " and it was also locally 

 kno^^'n as the "hard-back cooter. " 



The specimens taken showed little variation in structure or mark- 

 ings. INIost of those captured were females with decidedly convex 

 plastron. The size of the shells of the mature specimens averaged 

 about 1 foot in length by 11 inches in width and 5 inches in height. 

 The largest specimen taken (No. 6,433) measured as follows: Length 

 of carapace 13| inches, width 12 inches; length of plastron 11| inches, 

 width 6^ inches; height of shell 5| inches. The adult of Chrysemys 

 floridana, as found in the Okefinokee, may be described as follows: 



Carapace very high and dome-shaped; black-brown; vertebral 

 plates smooth except anterior and posterior ones which are slightly 

 wrinkled; costal plates with deep longitudinal wrinkles on upper 



* In the middle of May, 1912, Mr. Harper reports that the edges of the canal 

 were literally torn up by bears, coons, etc., which search for "cooter's" eggs. 



