596 Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 



examples studied were infested by a few parasitic round worms, 

 but we have no evidence that these cause much injury. Unhke the 

 scute-bearing turtles, this species is never covered with algje or 

 other organisms, although one example was found in 1906 which 

 had the plastron covered with a growth of Opercularia. 



This turtle may be readily distinguished from all other turtles 

 of the lake by the flat body, covered with a smooth leathery skin 

 flexible at the margins. Color, olive-green, with dark spots ; head 

 and neck olive-green with light and dark stripes; legs and feet 

 mottled with dark. The male has the tubercles on the front of the 

 carapace smaller than in the female, the body longer, and the tail 

 extending considerably beyond the carapace. 



2. SNAPPING TURTLE 



CHELYDRA SERPENTINA (Linnaeus) 



The Snapping Turtle is of very wide distribution, its habitat 

 extending from Nova Scotia to the equator and west to the Rocky 

 Mountains. It is doubtless found in every stream and pond in 

 Indiana. 



At Lake Maxinkuckee it is quite common, but not nearly so 

 abundant as the Map, Painted, Musk, or Soft-shelled turtles. Al- 

 though they may be seen almost anywhere in the lake, they do 

 not often occur in the deeper, clear portions; they prefer shallow 

 water with soft muddy bottom, especially water that is well w^armed 

 up by the sun. They are more common, therefore, in Lost Lake 

 than in Lake Maxinkuckee, and in the latter body of water prefer 

 shallow bays with marshy shore, such as the region about Norris 

 Inlet and Outlet Bay. They are fond of streams and occur in 

 numbers in Norris Inlet, also in Aubeenaubee Creek, Culver Inlet 

 and the Outlet. In the Norris Inlet region. Outlet Bay, or Lost 

 Lake, they can frequently be caught on set-lines or in turtle-nets 

 baited with meat. They are not often seen basking about the 

 shores, but usually spend their time floating or swimming with 

 only the head projecting above the surface of the water. Numer- 

 ous examples of various sizes were captured in many places about 

 the lake. They were captured in various ways, some in hauls of 

 the seine, some on set-lines, and many by hand. A few were seen 

 that had been taken in traps. 



The Snapping Turtle, Snapper, Mossback, or Mud Turtle, as it 

 is variously called, is most frequent in and about muddy ponds, 

 streams or bogs. It may often be seen long distances from water, 

 however, when it is traveling from one pond to another, or in 

 search of a suitable place for depositing its eggs. It walks along 



