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aquatic places tbej are able to escape from their enemies by diving 

 into the water, burrowiuy into the mud, or swimming away. 



The mouth of the turtle is provided with horny edges along the 

 jaw, by which they are able to cut vegetation or tiesh as with a 

 pair of scissors, but they are not provided with teeth, as generally 

 found in carnivorous creatures. They take their food either in the 

 water or on land, and are able to eat or swallow in either air or 

 water. 



It is not generally known that turtles molt or cast the epidermis 

 or outer portion of the skin as regularly as do the serpents. How- 

 ever, it is true that a specimen may become covered with moss-like 

 vegetation and within a few days assume a bright, clean appear- 

 ance, which is explainable only by the process of casting the horny 

 epidemal plates covering the shell, as we have observed in aquaria. 



Eggs and Nests: In turtles the sexes are distinct, but it is often 

 impossible to recognize the difference between the male and female, 

 although in many species the males are to be recognized by the 

 concave or hollow plastron. All mate, and lay eggs, which may 

 vary in number from three to one hundred, according to size and 

 species. With some species, such as the Snapping Turtle and the 

 Leather Back, the eggs are almost perfectly spherical, and in this 

 regard differ from all Pennsylvania species of serpents' eggs, all 

 of which are oval in one outline. Also their shells are hard and 

 calcareous or somewhat stony, and in this feature differ from the 

 serpents, which are only leathery. Some of the eggs of turtles are 

 elongate or oval, as are those of the Common Box Turtles. 



All species of turtles leave the water to lay their eggs, most of 

 them preferring the loose warm sand along the shores. After find- 

 ing a suitable place the female commences to make an excavation 

 with her hind claws and body and also turns around in the hole in 

 such a way that her body burrows deeper and deeper in the sand un- 

 til she reaches such a depth that her body is covered with sand and 

 only the head protrudes. The eggs are then laid, after which she 

 crawls out in such a manner that the sand which covered her body 

 drops over the eggs and covers them. 



They are now left to hatch by the aid of the sun and ever after- 

 ward to shift for themselves. As soon as the young break their 

 embryonic prisons they go trooping in a line down grade to water, 

 where they find both food and protection, and where at the same 

 time many of their natural enemies find them. 



As the eggs are edible and sought for food by both man and beasts 

 and as young turtles are a favorite delicacy of most carnivorous 

 mammals, birds, reptiles and fishes, it is no wonder that the turtles 

 are reduced in number by these agencies. 



