175 



and toward the auteiior border, which are the directions of greatest 

 radial growth of scales. 



It is stranj^e tliat as common as is the mature Common Box 

 Turtle, the very young are rarely seen. These are indeed so rare 

 that it is a question as to how and where they live. 



The female of this species makes her nest among loose pebbles 

 and earth, on ratlier dry hillside ground, and covers the eggs only a 

 very few inches. We remember distinctly having seen a nest acci- 

 dentally opened by a hoe which uncovered and cut out three white, 

 rather hard eggs, which resembled the eggs of a snake and would 

 have been pronounced such by the uninitiated, had it not been for 

 the hard shell and the fact that two of the eggs were cut op<'n and 

 contained small embryonic animals, which indeed looked as much 

 like young mice as anything else. It was seen at once that they 

 were Box Turtle eggs, of which only three had been laid in the nest. 

 These were left on the hillside to hatch, and later the young were 

 to care for themselves. Whither the very young go after they are 

 hatched, and how they live, is hard to say, but it is to be presumed 

 that they find their way into the midst of the dense vegetation, 

 especially beneath bushes in the small valleys or ravines which are 

 usually to be found in the vicinity where the eggs are laid. 



Shaw says that the eggs of this species are about as large as a 

 pigeon egg, while Hay more accurately says they are oval, one and 

 one-half by three-fourths inch in measurement and number from 

 four to six in number. He further states they have a rather thin 

 shell and are laid the latter part of June or later. Ditmars says 

 that the eggs are ovoidal with thin, hard shell, buried in the soft 

 ground or secreted in the leaves. 



The following tabulations show the results of our study of the 

 stomach contents of forty specimens of the Common Box Turtle: 



No. Per Cent. 



Vegetation 25 62.5 



Cryptogams, (Flowerless Plants) 7 17 



Fongi. 



Undetermined fungi 1 2.5 



Basidiomycetes 1 --^ 



Mushrooms, ^ 1^ 



Bryophyta, Moss, 1 2.5 



Phanerogams, (Flowering Plants). 



Undet., •* 1|J 



Roots, 2 5 



Buds 1 2.5 



Leaves ^ ^-••'^ 



Berries, ^ ^-^ 



D 



