160 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



Specimens were collected in every month from March to October inclusive 

 but the greatest numbers were taken in May and June. A single specimen was 

 secured in the Maumee River opposite Toledo in December, 1929. None suc- 

 cessfully hibernated in the zoo pool and it would appear that the masses of 

 wet leaves provided in this place were not a suitable winter environment for 

 soft-shelled turtles. 



Individuals were obtained in company with map, painted and snapping 

 turtles and also once or twice with the brown soft-shelled turtle. 



Captive specimens ate a great variety of food including crayfish, worms, 

 insects, snails, fish, meat, etc., but none were observed to take vegetable mat- 

 ter. Surface (1908, 123), however, writes: 



We take this opportunity to record the fact that we have found the soft-shelled 

 turtle feeding upon grains of corn obtained in or near the ponds which they inhabit. 

 A specimen examined by us in Ohio some years ago contained both the yellow and 

 red field corn, to the extent of almost as much corn as would be produced upon two 

 average ears of this plant. 



The soft-shelled turtle is much esteemed as an article of food and, like 

 the snapper, numbers of the present species find their way into the Ohio mar- 

 kets. Professional turtle collectors take them by "noodeling," in traps, nets 

 or on set lines. 



On two occasions pairs of specimens were seen in positions which indicated 

 mating but neither time were they actually in coitu. The male had his forefeet 

 placed upon the back of the female in such a way that his hindfeet were be- 

 yond the posterior border of her shell and his tail could be turned so that its 

 ventral surface met hers. 



The eggs are spherical in shape. Their shells are hard and remind one 

 of a ping-pong ball and they even bounce somewhat similarly when they are 

 dropped on a hard surface. A group of 21 eggs from a large female collected 

 in Wampler's Lake, Michigan, June 18, 1934, were white to pale pinkish 

 brown in color with a single white "polar cap" varying from ^Iiq to nearly 1/2 

 of the surface of the egg. The greatest diameter of the eggs of this clutch 

 varied from 25.8 to 29 mm. and averaged 27 mm.; the least diameter varied 

 from 24 to 27.8 mm., and averaged 25.6 mm. Cahn, writing on the turtles of 

 Illinois (1937, 193) gives the number of eggs in a complement as 9 to 25, 

 average 18. He found that the average diameter of the 217 eggs he exam- 

 ined was 28.3 mm. 



Newman (1906) describes the nesting of a specimen as follows: 



A warm sunshiny day. Place: the 'old road' about ten feet from the water's edge 

 and concealed from view on one side by tall grass. A large female Aspidonectes 

 (Amyda) has just escaped from the grass and is commencing to nest. No time is lost 

 in selecting a spot. She scratches out footholds for the forefeet and begins to excavate 

 with the hindfeet, using right and left alternately with a circular gouging movement. 

 As the hole becomes deeper it is generally necessary for her to give a more nearly 

 perpendicular thrust with the hindfeet. 



In less than forty minutes the nest is completed and she has commenced to lay her 

 eggs, letting the tail down into the narrow hole as far as possible. After depositing 

 several eggs she arranges them with the hindfeet and then rakes m some earth pre- 

 viously wet with water from the accessory bladders. The earth is gently packed in 



