NATURAL fflSTORY. 



GEOGRAPHIC TORTOISE. 



29 



SOFT-SHELLED TORTOISE. 



sharp incurved claws ; hind feet broad, pal- 

 mate, covered with flat scales towards the 

 posterior margin, and armed with five 

 claws, longer but less curved than on the 

 fore feet. Tail conical, pointed, and reach- 

 ing 1,^ inch beyond the shell. Color, green- 

 ish brown, with meandering yellow lines, 

 crossing one another in various directions. 

 Under side of the marginal plates greenish 

 yellow, with numerous and somewhat regu- 

 lar brown markings. Sternuvi, yellowish 

 flesh-color. Head, neck and legs, beauti- 

 fully striped with brownish and yellow. 

 Jaws of a uniform yellowish umber, — a 

 yellow spot on each side of the head, back 

 of the *ye. Eyes yellow, with a horizontal 

 black stripe. Sutures, at the junction of 

 the plates above, a little elevated. Leugth 

 of the shell, 10 inches; breadth, 8.5; length 

 of the head, 2.75; width, 1.8; between the 

 orbits, 0.5 ; width of the palmated hind 

 foot, 2.4 ; leugth of the tail, from the attach- 

 ment of the vertebrae;, 8.8; beyond the shell, 

 L25. 



History. — The specimen here described, 

 was taken in Colchester, near the mouth of 

 Winooski river, on the 28th of May, 1840. 

 It was a female, containing 14 mature eggs 

 in the oviduct, with about the same number, 

 considerably developed, and innumerable 

 small ones, in the ovaries. She was crawl- 

 ing very fast over the sandy plain, when 

 taken, and was evidently in search of a 

 suitable place for depositing her eggs. The 

 form of the matm-e eggs, was that of an 

 ellipsoid, with one end a trifle larger than 

 the other, and they differed not sensibly in 

 size, being 1.4 inch long, 0.9 thick, and 

 having their greatest circumference 3.7 in., 

 and least, 2.9. The oviduct, containing 

 the mature eggs, was taken from the abdo- 

 men, cut into three pieces, and laid aside, 

 and, in the course of ten minutes, by re- 

 peated visible contractions, or throes, all 

 the eggs were expelled from it. 



Another female of this species was taken, 

 .June 10th, 1846, near Clay Point, in Col- 

 chester. She was sitting over a hole she 

 had excavated in the sand, in the act of 

 depositing her eggs, and made no eifort to 

 escape when approached. Her oviduct was 

 filled with mature eggs. I learn that in 

 ploughing the sandy lands near this Point, 

 nests of this tortoise, containing fi'om 12 to 

 20 eggs, have been frequently laid open. 



The chief habitat of this species is in the 

 states at the south-west, and I was not 

 aware of its existence in Nev/ England, at 

 the time of the publication of my History of 

 Vermont, in 1842. Since that time, I have 

 found that it is quite common all along the 

 eastern shore of Lake Champlain. It has 

 not, however, to my knowledge, been found 

 any where else in New England ; and, for 

 4 



the present, this may be regarded as its 

 eastern limit. 



The dimensions of the shell of this species, 

 given by Dr. DeKay, are : length, 6".5 in. ; 

 breadth, 5, and height 3. Most of those 

 observed in this vicinity have been from 7 

 to 10 inches long, and from G to 8.5 broad. 

 Their flesh is said to be a very palatable 

 article of food. 



Geicus Trioxtx. — Gcoffroy. 

 Generic Characters. — Shell without plates, and, 

 together with the stenium, cartilaginous, and ex- 

 tending over the edges into a flexible mai-gin. Feet 

 palmated, with three sharp claws. A corneous 

 beak, covered with fleshy lips. Nose produced. 

 Vent near the extremity of the tail. 





SOFT-SHELLED TORTOISE. 

 Trionyx ferox. — Gmelin. 

 Description.— General color of the shell 

 brownish olive, above, with ocellated spots, 

 formed mostly by a circular arrangement 

 of black dots, and with a border formed of 

 black dots around the margin of the shell. 

 The spots are usually about the size of a 

 dime. In dried specimens, the color is 

 nearly black, and the spots very obscure. 

 All the under parts dull white, or light 

 flesh-color. A bright yellow line, edged on 

 both sides with black, extends from the 

 snout to each eye, and from the eyes back- 

 wards, till lost in the marbling of the neck. 

 Irides bright yellow, crossed by a black 

 medial stripe. Upper side of the legs vari- 

 ed with black and yellow. Form orbicular ; 

 shell bony in the central part, with the 

 margin cartilaginous, soft and flexible. 

 Head long and pointed, snout projecting 

 beyond the jaws, with large open nostrils 

 at the extremity. .Jaws horny, with the 

 lips fleshy and revolute. Upper side of the 

 legs, next the margin of the shell, covered 

 with horny scales. Five toes on each foot, 

 three of which have well developed claws, 

 the others are enveloped in a web, forming 

 paddles for swimming. Tail projects less 

 than an inch beyond the shell, with the 

 vent near the extremity. 



