THE REPTILES OF OHIO 123 



from the glands, and which are often surrounded by a small raised lump of 

 skin. 



Specimens were collected in every month from March to October inclu- 

 sive; the earliest record was March 3 (1933) and the latest October 20 

 (1929). That musk turtles sometimes hibernate in considerable aggregations 

 is indicated by Thomas and Trautman (1937) who report finding an esti- 

 mated 450 specimens in a canal north of Buckeye Lake, Licking County, on 

 March 28, 1937. 



During the collecting season musk turtles most frequently were found in 

 association with snappers and painted turtles but they were also taken with 

 most of the other species occurring in Ohio. 



The food is varied but apparently is largely of an animal nature. Items 

 which are too large to swallow are seized in the jaws while the legs push 

 against the main mass until a piece is torn loose. Risley (1933, 700) states 

 that "remains of fish, clams, snails, aquatic insects, and crabs, as well as much 

 vegetable matter, such as buds of Elodea and other unidentified aquatic plants, 

 have been found in their stomachs." Captives were observed to eat earth- 

 worms, crayfish, insects, such as grasshoppers, crickets, flies, etc., chopped meat, 

 liver and fish. It is probable that the musk turtle consumes considerable 

 carrion and hence is useful as a scavenger. 



None of the specimens collected in Ohio were observed to lay eggs. They 

 may dig their nests in decaying stumps (Newman, 1906, 148), in sand or in 

 muskrat houses (Risley, 1933, 696 & 699) or in a variety of other places as 

 described by Eigenmann (1896, 263), "The eggs are laid in the rotten wood 

 in the tops of stumps standing in the margin of the lake (Turkey Lake, 

 Indiana). The turtles were frequently found in the tops of these stumps, and 

 some of their eggs wedged as far into the rotten wood as a finger could bore. 

 Rotten logs removed some distance from the water are also favorable places 

 for egg laying, and in a mucky place of small area at the edge of the lake 362 

 eggs were taken at one time." The same author goes on to say they "had 

 deposited their eggs in the ground in depressions made by a cow while walk- 

 ing over the ground when it was soft. Still other eggs were found in bundles 

 of rushes drifted together." Risley (1933, 699) has also noted the gregarious 

 nesting habit and has recorded finds of 253, 196, 127 and 52 eggs at a time 

 in single muskrat houses. 



The latter author has summarized the breeding habits of this species. He 

 states that "mating occurs in the spring between the approximate dates of 

 April 1 and May 15" and that "it may also occur in the fall." He found that 

 eggs of specimens from southern Michigan normally were laid from June 10 

 to July 5 and that in the laboratory the incubation period varied from 60 to 

 75 days. The number of eggs laid by single turtles varied from 2 to 7 but 

 occasionally as few as 1 or as many as 9 were deposited. He gives the maxi- 

 mum length of eggs as from 24 to 31, average 27.1 mm., and the maximum 

 diameters as from 14.2 to 17.0, average 15.5 mm. The eggs are white, ellip- 

 tical in shape and have hard, rather brittle shells. Risley's newly hatched 

 juveniles had the carapace from 19 to 25, average 23 mm. (% to 1 inch) in 



