498 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INDIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



ground. And when one is found it will be seen resting perfectly still, with 

 its head projeeting from the shell and staring at you stupidly. When you 

 pick it up it will draw in its head and feet and close its shell tightly. Occa- 

 sionally it will make a slight his&uig noise, the only noise we have ever heard 

 it make. It is a wholly harmless, inoffensive creature. It is easily domesti- 

 cated and, as a garden pet, possesses many interesting and attractive char- 

 acteristics, albeit not very exciting. 



Their mating season in this region is in late April and JNIay, and the eggs 

 are laid in shallow burrows in sandy soil. We know nothing about the 

 number of eggs laid nor the period of mcubation. 



The food of this species consists chiefly of grubs, angleworms and succu- 

 lent plants and fruits. When kept as pets they will eat cabbage, lettuce, 

 musk melon, tomatoes, mushrooms, angleworms and meat. They soon learn 

 to take food from one's hand. 



Shell broadly oval, sometimes four-fifths as broad as long, high, very 

 convex, and extremely solid; plastron large, tighth' closing the opening of 

 th,e carapace, consisting of 2 lobes moAable on each other and the carapace, 

 the bridge entirely obliterated: plastron rounded in front and behind; head 

 of moderate size, the snout not projer-ting; upper jaw with the cutting edge 

 drawn down in front into a hooked beak, the hook not notched, the alveolar 

 surface narrow; lower jaw turned upward at the tip; legs and feet scaly; 

 r-laws stout, the web between the toes narrow; tail short. 



Color of carapace yellow, brown and black, sometimes the darker color 

 predominating, sometimes the yellow; ground color usually brown or reddish 

 brown, the j'cllow ai)pearing as spots of various shapes, often radiating from 

 the point of gi'owth of the scute; the ground color may rppear to be yellow 

 relieved with l)lack spots; plastron variously ornamented with black and 

 yellow. Young with a single yellow spot on each scute of the carapace. 

 Length of carapace, 4 to 6 inches in full grown examples. 



THE BATRACHIANS. 



Eighteen species of batrachians are now known from the vicinity of Lake 

 Maxinkuckee. These include one water-dog, seven salamanders, one toad, 

 two tree-toads, and seven frogs. 



All of these are of some importance in their relations to the life of the lake, 

 and several of them, such as the water-dog and the various species of frogs, 

 of every considerable importance. Of all the animals inhabiting the lake, 

 perhaps the worst enemy of the fishes is the water-dog. And ot the verte- 

 brate animals about the lake, exclusive of the fishes themselves, frogs doubt- 

 less enter most largely into the menu of the large-mouth hlack bass. All of 

 the species are more or less aquatic, all being found in or about the water. 



