FIELD BOOK OF PONDS AND STREAMS 



small, cross- shaped, and notched behind (PI. XXII). Two 

 narrow yellow stripes extend along each side of the head and 

 neck, one above and one below the eye. The male has a 

 longer and stronger tail than the female and a "patch of 

 rough scales in the bend between the thigh and the leg." 

 Musk turtles give off a penetrating odor of musk from the 

 musk glands near the bases of the hind legs and near the 

 axils of the forelegs. Their dispositions are consistently 

 vicious. They stretch out their heads very slowly before 

 snapping and the expression of the whole performance is 

 surly and premeditated. 



Habits, habitat. — In color, musk turtles match the muddy 

 bottoms of the ponds and sluggish streams where they live, 

 which partly accounts for their being so little known (PL 

 XXII). They are bottom foragers that crawl over the mud, 

 stretching their necks out very slowly before snapping at their 

 prey — small fish, worms, insects, or tadpoles. Although 

 having lungs like all other turtles, they are able to stay below 

 the surface of water a very long time ; Ditmars kept them for 

 weeks in tanks where they could not get to the air. "Digging 

 in" is about the only activity of musk turtles when they are 

 in captivity ; one kept in the Mount Holyoke Zoology Labora- 

 tory through a winter and spring would burrow into the dirt 

 as often as it was pulled out. After a long sojourn in the dirt 

 it was thin and shrunken but would appear greatly refreshed 

 as soon as it had been "soaked up" in water. 



Breeding habits. — Its 3 to 7 smooth, white, elliptical eggs 

 are laid in late June, in rotting stumps and logs or clumps of 

 reeds. The newly hatched young are about half an inch long. 



Size. — The average length of the whole animal is 5 to 6 

 inches. 



Range. — Southern Canada to Florida,'westward to Missouri 

 and Texas. 



Mud turtle, Kinosternum subrubrum. — Although many 

 persons know all pond turtles as "mud turtles," only this 



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