TURTLE EGGS. 101 



old males and females. They seem to have left the 

 water all at the same time ; the females are busy 

 depositing their eggs in hollow places under the 

 wild-sage bushes, or amiclsttufts of grass ; but why 

 the little ones come on land as well, puzzles me. 

 It is next to impossible to catch them when in 

 the water ; their habit is to come out on the edge 

 of the pond or stream, or what they like better is 

 to scramble up on a floating log, and enjoy the 

 sunshine as it drifts about. The slightest noise 

 at once sends them, hurry-scurry, to the bottom. 

 Now I can pick them up as easily as I could 

 hedge-snails in Devonshire; they do not even 

 attempt to get out of the way. 



The eggs are white, and devoid of shelly 

 covering, the contents being enclosed in a tough 

 membrane. I discovered about fifteen in each 

 nest, deposited in a heap, very similar to the way 

 our British garden-snail deposits its eggs in holes 

 in the earth. The sun hatches them, and I much 

 regret that I could not ascertain how long a time 



o o 



the eggs take to hatch by the sun's heat ; we had to 

 proceed on our journey, so I was obliged, though 

 reluctantly, to abandon this interesting investiga- 

 tion. The markings on the carapace are ex- 

 ceedingly pretty. The general colour is olive, 

 with darker mottlings, the under-portion (or 



