RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



form well merits its specific title of serpen- 

 tina. At the time of oviposition, whicli is 

 between the 10th and 20th of June, the 

 serpentina leaves the water during the early 

 morning, and, crawling to a sand-bank, digs 

 a small cavity (not with its tail, as is com- 

 monly believed, but with its hind foot), into 

 which the spherical eggs are dropped, some- 

 times to the number of twent^'-five, or even 

 more. The hole is then covered over, and 

 the sand leveled off', the turtle finally wend- 

 ing its way back to the water, the whole 

 operation taking not over twenty minutes. 

 The eggs thus deposited, will, at the end 

 of about three months, unless found by some 

 marauding skunk — a misfortune which comes 

 to fully half the eggs laid — give rise to as 

 many young. This description is more fully 

 entered into, because of its difference from 

 that of the oviposition of all our other turtles. 

 While the serpentina is satisfied with nothing 

 but sand, the Painted and Speckled Turtles 

 put up with any soil in which they can 

 scrape, not a cavity, but a hoHoio ; the ser- 

 pentina adopts the morning, while other 

 turtles choose the evening. All our turtles, 

 however, are alike in that they take equal 

 care in covering the eggs by clawing the 

 sand, dirt, grass, or moss, as the case ma}' 

 be, over them, and leveling it by repeatedly 

 drawing the body over the place of deposi- 

 tion. 



The Snapping Turtles are most retired 

 and solitary in their habits. Spending 

 most of their time at the bottom of some 

 sluggish river or muddy pond, they live on 

 such fish and reptiles as may come within 

 the reach of their jaws. In confinement 

 the}' are especially vicious, striking at any- 

 thing held towards them, and having such a 

 tenacious hold as to allow themselves to be 

 lifted from the ground rather than relax 

 their jaws. They are often used as food, 

 and take a hook baited with fish readily, 

 though strong tackle is necessary to suc- 

 cessfully land them. 



Amoni; the more recent reports of min- 

 erals is one of a petroleum well, at Bakon, 

 Russia, which for several days after open- 

 ing threw a stream of oil about forty feet 

 into the air, and this valuable product from 

 the Caucasian wells is appearing in the 

 German markets. 



The Shell-Bearing MoUusca of Rhode 

 Island. 



BY HORACE F. CARPENTER. 



Chapter X. 



Family 12. Cancellariidae consists of 

 two genera, Cancellaria and Admete ; Can- 

 cellaria containing seventy species of trop- 

 ical and sub-tropical shells, and Admete 

 one species, inhabiting from Massachusetts 

 Bay to the Arctic Ocean. This species, 

 Admete viridula, Fabricus, has not yet been 

 found in Rhode Island waters, but I see no 

 reason why it should not be, as it is often 

 taken from the stomachs of fishes caught in 

 Massachusetts Bay, and inhabits waters 

 from ten to forty fathoms in depth. I will 

 not occupy space in describing any species 

 of shells not actually found in Rhode Island, 

 but call attention to them for future refer- 

 ence, and for reasons given in Random 

 Notes, No. 10. A description of it may be 

 found in Gould's Invert. JIass., 391, 1870. 



Family 13. Terebridae contains but one 

 genus, six sub-genera, and about two hun- 

 dred living and twenty-five fossil species, 

 all foreign to our fauna. 



Family 14. Pleurotomidse consists of 

 three sub-families, sixteen genera and nu- 

 merous sub-genera, with over five hundred 

 species, distributed world-wide. I am not 

 aware that any species of this faliiily have 

 ever been found in Rhode Island, but sev- 

 eral species have been found off" Martha's 

 Vineyard and vicinity in deep water, and 

 described by Prof. A. E. Verrill, to whose 

 works I refer the reader, simply mentioning 

 the names, localities, etc. 



Pleurotoma Dalli, Verrill and Smith, sp. 

 nov. Cat. Mar. Moll., 451, 18S2. 



Distr., off" Martha's Vineyard, 94 to 14G 

 fathoms. Off' Delaware Bay, 104 fathoms. 



Bela bicarinata, Couthouy. Bost. J. Nat. 

 Hist., II. 104, 1839. 



Distr., Cape Cod to Greenland ; Iceland, 

 Norway, Spitzbergen. Off" Martha's Vine- 

 yard, 28 fathoms. 



Bela decussata. Couth. Bost. J. Nat. 

 Hist., 11. 183, 1839. 



Distr., New England to Labrador ; Green- 

 land, Nova Zembla. Off" Martha's Vine- 

 yard, 34 fathoms. 



Bela cancellata, Mighels Proc. Bost. 

 Soc. Nat. Hist., I. 50, 1841. 



