154 



« 



yellow. A specimen that was taken in May at Lake Maxinkuckee had 

 all the soft skin suffused with red. 



Length of carapace 4 or 5 inches. 



Distributed from Maine to Florida and west to Louisiana and Western 

 Missouri. It is no doubt to be found throughout the whole State of 

 Indiana. It is reported from Brookville (Hughes), Mt. Carmel, 111. 

 (State coll.), lakes of Northern Indiana (Dr. G. M. Levett), Lake Max- 

 inkuckee and Marion county (Hay). 



Habits. — This is to be regarded as essentially an aquatic tortoise. It 

 appears to be disposed to frequent the deeper parts of ponds and small 

 lakes, since in such places it is safer than about shores or on the land. Its 

 disposition is timid, and it prefers to geek safety in concealment or in re- 

 treat, to defending itself actively. Nevertheless its disposition is not 

 altogether mild, since it will, when prevented from escaping, put out its 

 head slowly and close its jaws on its assailant with a sudden snap. Hol- 

 brook states that it will bite severely, if provoked. In their native haunts 

 they are often seen basking in the sun on some projecting rock or on some 

 fallen tree, from which on the slightest alarm they drop off into the water. 

 Their food is probably mostly or altogether of animal origin. They lay their 

 eggs on shores in holes that they have dug in the sand with their hind 

 feet. The eggs are from three to five in number, of an elongated ellipti- 

 cal shape, a little more than an inch long, and have a hard, smooth shell. 

 One kept in confinement by Agassiz laid alter the middle of June. 



It takes its specific name from the strong, musky odor which it emits in 

 life. 



Genus KINOSTERNON, Spix. 



Kinosternon, Spix, 1824, 90, 17; Kinosternum, LeConte, 1854, 1, 180; 

 Cinosternum and Thyrodernum, Agassiz, 1857, 4> h 426 ; Ciiwstemum, 

 Boulenger, 1889, 84, 33. 



Shell with the median keel indistinct even in the young ; almost or 

 entirely disappearing in the adults. Plastron with its anterior and pos- 

 terior lobes movable on the middle fixed portion. Length of plastron 

 almost equal to the length of the carapace. The width of the posterior 

 lobe more than one-half the width of the carapace. Suture between 

 the pectorals considerably shorter than that between the humerals. 



Kinosternon pennsylvanicum, (Gn3elin). 

 Eastern Mud Turtle. 



Tcstwlo pennsylvanica, Gnielin, 1789, 64, ed. 13, 1042; Kinosternon 

 pennsylvanicum, Holbrook, 1842, 54, i, 127, pi. 21 ; Thyrosternum penn- 

 sylvanicum, Agassiz, 1857, 4, i, 428, pi. iv, figs. 7-12 (y'g), and pi. v, 

 figs. 16, 17; Cinostermun pennnylvanlcnm, Boulenger, 1889, 84, 39. 



Body oval, not much elevated. The young with three indistinct 



