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Animal Material Eaten by Turtles. 



The Annulata or Worms, of which the earthworms are good repre- 

 sentatives, have no hard parts, and consequently would not exist 

 long in a determinable condition in the stomach of any creature eat- 

 ing them. However, such organisms were found contributing to the- 

 food elements of one specimen of Wood Turtle, one Speckled Turtle 

 and two Common Box Turtles. In the destruction of the earthworm 

 the turtle may be regarded as somewhat objectionable, because of 

 the beneficial effects of this worm upon the soil which it inhabits. 

 However, the earthworm is responsible for the destruction of some 

 young plants, especially in gardens in the early spring, and therefore 

 may be obnoxious. 



Mollusks, or the slugs, snails, mussels, and other so-called Shell- 

 bearing Invertebrates, were eaten extensively by the turtles, show- 

 ing that these animals to a great extent feed on all manner of animal 

 material in wet or damp places inhabited by molluscan life. In 

 feeding upon the mollusks, the turtles are generally destroying crea- 

 tures which are almost wholly objectionable in their economic effects. 

 The terrestrial mollusks or snails are remarkably destructive to 

 vegetation, and many complaints are made by gardeners concerning 

 injury by snails or slugs. Any creature feeding extensively upon 

 these snails or slugs should be regarded as a friend of gardeners 

 and should be preserved. From the fact that nearly half of the 

 Common Box Turtles examined were found to contain snails we see 

 that this reptile is valuable to mankind in a garden by aiding to 

 suppress these pests which are so difficult to meet and destroy by 

 other practical means. 



Pond snails, or the spiral univalve mollusks living in water 

 (genera Physa and Melantho), were eaten by Snapping Turtles and 

 by the Painted Turtles. It is not surprising that these two types of 

 aquatic turtles should feed on aquatic animals of any kind obtain- 

 able. Bivalves, commonly called ''Mussels," were eaten by five 

 Painted Turtles. As these mollusks live only in the water, and 

 mostly upon the mud at the bottom of streams and ponds, we have 

 an indication of the feeding habits of this species of reptile. 



The Arthropods were discussed in one of our previous Bulletins, 

 and it is now enough for us to say that this large branch contains 

 four Orders: The Crustaceans, the Myriapods, the Arachnids or 

 Spiders, and the Insects. Belonging to the Crustaceans are the 

 crayfish and shrimps, which always live in water and have beneficial 

 effects, because they feed upon organic material which may be dead 

 and decomposed. They thus act as scavengers in helping to purify 

 the water in which they live; also by making holes in the ground 

 extending down to the water beneath, the crayfish have afforded 



