TURTLE EGGS. 101 
old males and females. They seem to have left the 
water all at the same time; the females are busy 
depositing their eggs in hollow places under the 
wild-sage bushes, or amidst tufts of grass; but why 
the little ones come on land as well, puzzles me. 
It is next to impossible to catch them when in 
the water; their habit is to come out on the edge 
of the pond or stream, or what they like better is 
to scramble up on a floating log, and enjoy the 
sunshine as it drifts about. The slightest noise 
at once sends them, hurry-scurry, to the bottom. 
Now I can pick them up as easily as I could 
hedge-snails in Devonshire; they do not even 
attempt to get out of the way. 
The eggs are white, and devoid of shelly 
covering, the contents being enclosed in a tough 
membrane. I discovered about fifteen in each 
nest, deposited in a heap, very similar to the way 
our British garden-snail deposits its eggs in holes 
in the earth. The sun hatches them, and I much 
regret that I could not ascertain how long a time 
the eges take to hatch by the sun’s heat; we had to 
proceed on our journey, so I was obliged, though 
reluctantly, to abandon this interesting investiga- 
tion. The markings on the carapace are ex- 
ceedingly pretty. The general colour is olive, 
with darker mottlings, the under-portion (or 
