TURTLES AND BATRACHIANS OF THE LAKE REGION. 487 



railroad bridge, and the turtles were seen in considerable numbers climbing 

 over the dam or making the journey over the road by land. 



The Map Turtle does not hibernate, but many, if not all of them, keep 

 walking about on the bottom of the lake, where they can be seen through 

 the ice Avhenever it is clear. 



Throughout the winter of 1900-1901, they could be seen any day when 

 the ice was not covered with snow. In the early Avinter of that 3'ear these 

 turtles appeared to congregate in considerable numbers in the northwest 

 corner of Lost Lake, in shallow water near shore. On Dee. 15, 25 were counted 

 in this place, and only one or two were seen elsewhere. Later on in the season 

 they were found in various other places; a good many were found in the bottom 

 of Outlet Bay. On Christmas day, 1900, in walking out 149 steps from Chad- 

 wick's pier, 69 Map Turtles and one Musk Turtle were counted. Thej' were 

 also found in some numbers in the Norris Inlet region. These turtles keep 

 moving about more or less all winter, although they are not nearly so active, 

 as in the summer; and they probably eat little or nothing. Thej^ do not ap- 

 pear to swim any or leave the bottom. They do not appear to take fright 

 easily and would probably be unable to make good time in attempting to 

 escape even if they tried; one can walk above them and study their actions 

 in detail through the clear ice. While walking about the motion of the limbs 

 is quite jerky and irregular. Where they walked over soft bare muddy bot- 

 tom the tracks left by them could be plainly sesn — two parallel rows of dots, 

 the distance between the rows indicating the size of the turtle; by following 

 these, the animal could frequently be tracked down. 



The Map Turtle is unable to withstand a freezing temperature, at least 

 in air. During the winter several were caught where the ice men had taken 

 out ice, and were set out on the ice. They began to stiffen almost immediately, 

 and froze solid in a verj^ short time. They were very gradually thawed out 

 by being placed in cold water, but did not revive. 



The Map Tur tie is probably a scavenger and does muen to rid the lake of 

 dead animal matter. It also feeds largely on the smaller mollusks, par- 

 ticularly Vivipara contectoides. It is never used for food — perhaps on account 

 of its small size as compared with the two species here used for food — the 

 Snapper and Soft-shell. So far as our ob.,ervations go it has no enemies except, 

 possibly, leeches. 



The ]Map Turtles reach onlj' a moderate size. The largest example& 

 seen by us weighed 4 to 4:}^ pounds. 



The following table gives weights and measurements of 19 individuals 

 examined : 



