16 FRESH- WATER TURTLES. 



snapper; so there is more waste. The soft-shells, therefore, rank 

 with those " home-consumption " delicacies, the famous honey 

 banana, the emerald-gem muskmelon, and the fall pippin apple, 

 which are too good for the market place and can not retain their 

 original flavor after passing through the hands of the middlemen. 

 The fish dealer at one of the towns visited shipped out a barrel of 

 snappers, but when visited later it was found that he had a goodly 

 number of soft-shells on hand. "They do not get beyond me," he 

 explained. 



The soft-shells are prized, not only for soup, but for frying ; and 

 for this purpose the younger individuals, weighing from 1 to 1^ 

 pounds, are preferred. In making soup the shell may either be used 

 or discarded. 



The soft-shell loves the clear water over sandy bottoms and 

 prefers a good current. Its principal food, to judge from a few 

 specimens examined, consists of crayfishes. Both its habits and habi- 

 tat are therefore conducive to an excellent flavor of flesh. 



METHODS OF CAPTUKE. 



On account of their habits, the soft-shells can not be taken in 

 quantities by the methods used for either the snapper or terrapin. 

 They are gregarious, like the terrapin, but, as a general thing, they 

 do not seek elevated positions in basking, any good sand bar proving 

 satisfactory. They would not drop in numbers into boxes, and they 

 do not " mud up " in large numbers, as do the snappers during the 

 winter. They are rather hard to get in an ordinary seine. During 

 the summer of 1907 several hundred were seen basking on one of the 

 sand bars of the upper Mississippi not far below St. Paul. The sand 

 bar was surrounded by a long net, with the expectation of bagging 

 'several barrels of turtles. These all took to the water and the net 

 was drawn in. Only two turtles were obtained, the net having 

 passed over the others, which had, no doubt^ simply flattened down 

 close to the bottom. 



As previously stated, most of the soft-shells are captured inci- 

 dentally on set lines or in hoop nets operated for fish. They can 

 readily be caught in baited hoop nets, and one fisherman said that it 

 was easier to get them, when desired, than it was to capture snappers. 

 The nets must be visited at least every 12 hours, especially in warm 

 weather, as the imprisoned turtles soon drown. Prof. Jacob 

 Reighard in Ward and Whipple's " Fresh-water Biology," page 66, 

 gives the following description of a turtle net : '^ 



Turtles are best taken in a turtle net, which is a form of fyke net. It should 

 be of heavy twine and coarse mesh and, if it is desired to keep the turtles alive, 

 should be modified as follows : The terminal section of the pot is made cy- 

 lindrical or the whole pot may be made with square hoops. A circular opening 

 is cut in the upper side of the terminal section of the pot and to this is attached 

 the lower end of a cylinder of netting which extends to the water's surface. 

 The upper end of this cylinder is attached to an opening cut in one side of a 

 wooden box, provided on the opposite side with a hinged lid fastened with a 

 hasp. The box is supported at the surface of the water on poles set in the 

 bottom. When turtles reach the terminal section of the pot, they are able to 



" Reighard, Jacob : Methods of collecting and photogi-aphing. Chap. Ill of Frpsh- 

 water Biology, by Henry B. Ward and George C. Whipple. John Wiley & Sons, New 

 York, 1918. 



