140 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



learn to expect food and will travel at a rapid pace toward the hand which 

 proflFers it to them. They often fight over the same morsel and engage in 

 lengthy tug-of-wars over a stringy piece of meat, etc. 



The mating of box turtles was observed on several occasions and was 

 found to agree in practically every detail with that described by Cahn and 

 Conder (1932). The male after a preliminary courtship, which appears to 

 consist largely of pushing his shell against that of the female, inserts his legs 

 between her carapace and plastron and hooks them about her legs. Once 

 secured in this position he leans back upon the posterior edge of his carapace 

 until his plastron is pointing upward at an obtuse angle with the ground. 

 His tail is turned at such an angle that his ana! opening is in contact with 

 that of the female and the penis can be inserted readily. In all the cases seen, 

 the male fell upon its back when the two sexes separated, but this may have 

 been due to an effort to escape when the observer approached. 



Three specimens were observed nesting the evening of June 15, 1934. 

 Two began digging at twilight, the third about an hour after dark. In each 

 case the procedure was much the same. The work was done entirely by the 

 hind legs which excavated a funnel-shaped hole with a narrow neck at the 

 surface of the ground and a wide portion below. It appeared that the depth, 

 and diameter of the hole at its base, depended entirely upon the length of 

 the hind legs and that the turtle continued to dig until it had reached its 

 limit. Dirt was brought to the surface by the end of the stump-like foot which 

 was rotated so that it pointed more or less upward as it was elevated. The 

 dirt was deposited to the side after it reached the surface. 



After the holes were completed the turtles rested for a few minutes and 

 then emptied a surprisingly large quantity of water from their bladders into 

 the excavation. Laying began a few minutes later. Eggs were deposited singly 

 and fell to the bottom of the hole where the first one landed with a dull thud 

 and subsequent ones struck the previously laid ones with a distinctly audible 

 sound. The eggs, which were white and ellipsoidal, were deposited at from 

 two to eleven minute intervals. After the last egg had been laid the turtle 

 rested again for a few minutes. Then the loose dirt was shoved into the hole 

 by the hind legs until it was filled. The shell was dragged back and forth 

 over the nest and the immediate vicinity with such good effect that it was 

 necessary to mark the location at once for fear of not being able to find it 

 again. After a time the turtle left the spot and did not return. The first 

 two specimens started to nest before they were discovered but they were 

 watched for well over two hours. The third specimen required over four 

 hours to complete her task from start to finish. 



On September 29, 1934, four young emerged from one of the nests. They 

 were on the surface of the ground when discovered during the afternoon and 

 the shells and limbs of all were encrusted with dirt. Each bore an egg tooth 

 which was situated midway between the nostrils and the beak, and which 

 appeared as a small white cone-shaped object directed forward and of about 

 the same shape and size as the small down-turned beak. The egg tooth of 

 3 disappeared the second day after hatching, but the other one's persisted for 



