Hurler — Herpetology of Missouri. 251 



capable of badly lacerating a man's fingers, or possibly 

 severing a finger if seized at the joint. The soft-shell 

 turtle darts at- the offending object with the rapidity of 

 the serpent's stroke. It frequently takes the hooks of the 

 fishermen and in its frenzy to escape is always an object 

 to prompt cautious manipulation." 



The food of the Soft-Shelled Turtle consists of fish, 

 frogs, fresh-water mollusks, which are devoured in large 

 quantities. At the end of Ma}^ up to the middle of June 

 they come out on the sandbars in the Mississippi River 

 to deposit their eggs. I have found as many as twenty- 

 one in one burrow. The eggs are sjiherical in form and 

 about 20 mm. in diameter. 



102. Amyda spii^^feea Lesueur. Spiny Soft-shelled 

 Turtle. 



Trionyx ferox, Gymnopxis spiniferus, Trionyx argus, Aspidonectes spini- 

 fer, Trionyx spiniferus, Callinia spinifera, Trionyx spinijer. 



Description. — Head small, pointed. Proboscis with the nostrils at the 

 tip. These are crescentic in shape, a papilla projecting into each from 

 the septum. The horny covering of the jaws concealed at the sides by 

 the fleshy lips. Carapace with a low obtuse keel along the middle. A 

 series of spines on the front edge of the carapace, largest in the fe- 

 males. Whole upper surface of shell often covered with small asperi- 

 ties, which are often arranged on the posterior part in longitudinal 

 rows. Legs strong, anterior pair with several transverse scales above, 

 posterior with a single large scale. Feet with marginal and interdigital 

 webs. Digits 5-5. The first three on each foot with claws, the remain- 

 ing two on each foot without claws and concealed by the web. Tail of 

 male projecting considerably beyond the carapace. Callosities of plas- 

 tron well developed on the middle and hinder part. 



Color. — Carapace olive brown, blotched irregularly with darker brown 

 in older specimens. In others the whole top of the carapace is marked 

 with round, pale margined spots, those nearest the middle the largest. 

 The margin at the sides and behind yellowish, bounded with a black 

 line. A pale stripe, edged with black, extends from the top of the snout 

 to the eye and behind the latter continues backward and downward 

 to the side of the neck. A similar stripe extends backwards from each 

 angle of the mouth. Superior surface of the neck with small blackish 

 spots. Inferior surface of the same spotted and reticulated with black. 

 Legs above and feet above and below, as also the tail, marked with 

 black spots and streaks. Young examples sometimes show a line of 



