154 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



tinuously, sometimes for nearly an hour. Occasionally as high as five males 

 would extend their court to a single female at the same time but she did not 

 appear at any time to take the slightest note of them, except to retract her 

 head momentarily when they approached too closely. Taylor (1933) recently 

 has published similar observations. 



Cahn (1937, 167-8) gives the best account of the nesting and egg-laying 

 habits of this turtle. He says that it nests in clear sandy areas not far from 

 the water and usually during the last two weeks of June and the first one in 

 July. He found that the number of eggs in a clutch varied (depending upon 

 the size and age of the female) from 6 to 23, with an average of 15 to 18; in 

 size they averaged 37 x 22 mm. 



Amyda mutica (Le Sueur) 

 Brown Soft-Shelled Turtle 



Description. — A lafge turtle attaining a carapace length of fourteen inches; 

 females reach a considerably greater size than males. Largest adult Ohio 

 female had a shell 9 inches in length; largest male, 61/2 inches; smallest juve- 

 nile, probably recently hatched, 1% inches. Carapace leathery and without 

 horny plates, oval in outline and nearly as broad as long; margin entire. Shell 

 rounded but quite flat; juveniles with a slight vertebral ridge. Shell smooth 

 and with no tubercles present upon it. Carapace thrust well backward, extend- 

 ing considerably beyond the plastron posteriorly, but not reaching farther 

 forward than the plastron anteriorly. Plastron relatively small, covering the 

 soft parts anteriorly but leaving the hind legs and tail exposed. 



Head moderately small, narrow and terminating in a prolonged and flex- 

 ible snout. Mandibles covered with fleshy lips. Nostrils represented by two 

 circular holes. Tail stout and considerably longer in males than in females; 

 anal opening near tip. Skin smooth; a few scales on the limbs. Feet well 

 webbed; five digits on each foot but only the first three bear claws. 



Carapace olive grey or olive brown, marked with numerous dots or short 

 streaks of a shade but little darker than the ground color. Shell with a narrow 

 yellowish or brownish marginal band bordered interiorly with a clouded line 

 of dark grey. Large females mottled with areas of various shades of greyish 

 or brownish olive. 



Plastron uniform white or yellow. Head olive grey, sometimes faintly 

 dotted with darker. A yellow line, bordered with blackish or grey, extends 

 from or near the snout back through the eye to the neck. Throat yellowish. 

 Lips uniform yellow or clouded with grey. 



Feet uniform olive grey, or stippled or clouded with a darker shade. Under 

 side of legs and tail whitish or yellowish. 



Juveniles similar to adults but paler and with the canthus rostralis con- 

 siderably more pronounced. 



