474 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INDIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



too short and slippery to hold, and it is necessary to grasp them by the sides, 

 but this permits them to claw one's hand severely. They are very pugnacious, 

 and though the gape is not sufficiently large to allow them to get a \ery deep 

 hold, even a small example is able to give a very severe pinch. 



In some places this species basks not onh^ on the sandy shore, but also 

 on any log, board or other object upon which they can crawl. In Wild Cat 

 Creek, just below the bridge near Stonebraker's mill, east of Burlington, 

 Carroll Co., Indiana, hundreds have been seen on the large boulders with 

 which the bed of the creek was strewn. There they would remam for hours 

 basking in the sunshine, sliding quietly into the water if a passer-by came too 

 near, but soon returning to bask again until evening or until again disturbed. 



At Maxinkuckee they begin laying about the middle of .June and con- 

 tinue until perhaps near the end of .July. A large female killed June 14 con- 

 tained 33 eggs of various sizes, but none fulh- developed ; another killed on the 

 same date contained several eggs in the large distended oviduct, but none 

 was ready for laying. Still another examined June 17 had eggs ready to de- 

 posit. The next day a nest with about 30 eggs in it was found near the ice- 

 houses. On June 2.5 one was seen digging a hole in the sandy shore at the 

 southwest side of the lake and the next day another was seen doing the same 

 thing. Each of 2 examples caught June 27 contained mature eggs. On July 

 16, 1S99, 2 eggs were found on the bottom in 2 feet of water. On Julj^ 18, 

 1900, at the south end of the lake just east of Murray's, two large Soft- 

 shells were seen hurr^'ing into the water from the sand ridge pushed up by 

 the ice. Upon examination several nests were found. The sand showed 

 evidence of recent disturbance, and there was no difficulty in finding where 

 the eggs were buried. There were probably 10 or 12 nests in a distance of a 

 few yards along the ridge, though we did not dig into all of them. Some 

 fresh holes into which we dug contained nothing; possibly the turtles had 

 been trying different places and found some unsuitable. Each hole was 

 usually at the edge of an abrupt ascent and was 2 to 4 inches in diameter 

 at the mouth and generally sloped back soiiKnvhat. In one or two cases the 

 eggs were uncovered but more often there was some sand over them. The eggs 

 were generally at a depth of 4 to 10 inches and placed either on the bottom or 

 on the sides of the hole which usually widened out somewhat toward the 

 bottom. Five nests examined contained 4, 25, 3, 3 and 1 egg, respectively. 

 The 25 eggs in the second nest evidently belonged to 2 different sets. In the 

 bottom were 10 eggs that looked old. The yolk in each had settled into the 

 loAver half, giving it a pink tinge, while the upper half was opaque white. 

 Above these, and partially separated from them by sand, were 15 other eggs 

 that were uniform pink throughout and had evidently been deposited later. 

 In and about this and other nests were a good many broken eggs, evidently 

 destroyed by some animal, perhaps by the turtles themselves. The 3 eggs 

 in the third nest were fresh, but those in the fourth and fifth were old and 

 stale. Thirteen of these eggs and 2 others found elsewhere were taken to 



