122 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Mar.^ 



placed round black spots. Vertebral and costal regions finely, 

 longitudinally rugose with broken lines of linear tubercles; anterior 

 tubercles very small. The marginal area smooth, brown and broadly 

 edged with white. Plastron soft, slate-colored, a white spot on 

 each side of the median line ; plastron extends far forward, exceeding 

 the carapace anteriorly, short behind, leaving posterior fleshy parts 

 exposed. Head, neck and under parts of body black. Neck long, 

 skin loose and much wrinkled. Snout long, white beneath, white 

 spot at base of snout with white line from this spot to each eye, and 

 white line at edge of mandibles. 



As the specimens become older, the gayly colored markings of the 

 carapace become less distinct and have disappeared on turtles which 

 have attained a length of 6 inches. The anterior tubercles of the 

 shell become better developed and the whole carapace rougher. 

 The plastron grows lighter in color and the head uniformly darker, 

 with the markings obsolete. A small specimen of a young soft- 

 shelled turtle was found in the stomach of a water moccasin (Ancistro- 

 don piscivorus, No. 6,214) taken late in the summer. Very likely, 

 while in this soft-shelled, fleshy state, these turtles furnish an accept- 

 able addition to the food of the larger snakes and perhaps to other 

 animals of the swamp. 



Eggs of Platypeltis ferox were easily secured. They were usually 

 found in the sandy fields and occasionally the turtles were captured 

 at the places of oviposition. The eggs were generally deposited in 

 two or three inches of sand in some place where the surface of the 

 earth was warmed by the direct rays of the sun. One complement 

 of twenty-two eggs was discovered, June 26, on Floyd's Island in 

 which the eggs were uncovered. This was probably clue, however, 

 to the fact that the turtle had been in some manner frightened 

 before the egg-laying process was completed. The eggs are almost 

 exactly spherical, averaging 31 mm. in diameter, almost white, 

 somewhat brittle, surface slightly granular and shells very thin. A 

 number of complements of embryonic eggs at various stages of 

 development were taken from turtles and brought out for study. 

 These eggs are bright orange colored, becoming lighter as they 

 mature, and are practically spherical. They vary in size from 

 15 mm. to 32 mm. in diameter, with soft, indented skins, smooth 

 and fragile. In one specimen of Platypeltis (No. 6,484) were found 

 twenty eggs graduating from very small bright orange ovules to one 

 fully developed white egg 31 mm. in diameter, seemingly ready for 

 depositing. 



