Snakes and Frogs and Their Relatives [217 



The mud turtle and the musk turtle are really water dwellers 

 to all intents and purposes; the only time they come to shore is 

 to deposit their eggs. They find their food in muddy bottoms of 

 ponds and streams, and eat only under water. The musk turtle, 

 which has two broad yellow stripes on either side of its head, gives 

 off a strong odor on being handled. The head of the mud turtle 

 is ornamented with greenish yellow spots. 



The box turtle, unlike the mud and musk turtles, lives entirely 

 on land. It is easy to recognize this species by the hinges on the 

 front and rear of the lower shell by which it can "box" itself 

 completely within its armor. This turtle grows to a length of 

 about five inches. 



After the wintertime hibernation a turtle deposits her eggs in a 

 shallow hole in earth or sand. As a rule there are five or six eggs, 

 though some species lay more the snapper, for example, usually 

 produces about two dozen. 



Chameleons and Other Lizards 



If you take a casual look at a lizard, it will remind you very 

 much of a snake. Outwardly there is not much difference between 

 them except that most lizards have legs. Nevertheless, a legless 

 lizard is a lizard, not a snake. 



One definite difference you can observe between the two groups 

 is in the structure of the lower jawbone. In all snakes the lower 

 jaw is made up of two bones joined at the chin by a more or less 

 flexible ligament. The lizard also has a lower jawbone on either 

 side, but these are attached firmly at the center of the chin. 



Another visible difference is that lizards generally have movable 

 eyelids something no snake possesses. 



THE SECRET OF THE CHAMELEON'S COLOR CHANGES 



At a fair or circus, boys and girls frequently buy a souvenir 

 in the form of a little lizard which they are told is a chameleon. As 

 it happens, true chameleons are seldom seen in our country; 

 they are animals of the Old World, belonging especially to Africa. 

 But another kind of lizard, often called the "American chamele- 

 on," also has the ability of the true chameleons to change color 



