218 HOME LIFE IN FLOEIDA. ' 



direction of our iingers. We were not anxious to see wliat 

 the bones that underlaid our ''too tender flesh" looked 

 like, so we called aloud for a shovel and a basket, and while 

 they were on the way admonished our frisky turtle with 

 a stick, assuring him that his angry plunges were futile ; 

 then we shoveled him into the basket and the next day 

 he appeared in a harmless character on our table, and a 

 very good stew he made— what there was of him. 



We have outlined above one way of catching these soft- 

 shells. In the spring of the year, from February or March, 

 until late in the summer, they leave their watery homes 

 and waddle slowly along on dry land to lay their eggs. 

 Finding a spot that suits them, they scratch a deep hole 

 in the sand, deposit a long string of small soft-shell eggs 

 in it, cover them uj) and leave them for the hot sun to 

 hatch, knowing, as we must suppose, that their young, as 

 soon as they emerge from the egg, will follow their instinct, 

 which leads them at once to the nearest water. 



It is a curious fact, that if there be a fence near the lake 

 from which the turtle emerges, it will follow the line for 

 a long distance, and if an angle is met with there it will 

 halt, too stupid to turn and retrace its steps or to follow 

 the fence line in its new direction. On our own premises 

 there is just such a "corner," which we may well term "a 

 corner in turtle." Following a fence which runs close to 

 the lakelet in which they live, the soft-shells stop short on 

 reaching a sharp augle not far from the house, and, after 

 vainly butting and scratching the pickets, draw their lieads 

 into their shells and disdainfully await the upshot of their 

 adventure — which is the stew-pan. 



So marked is this predilection for the fence, that all 

 through the turtle season a sharp watch is kept on it, and 

 especially on the "corner," which was originally our nurs- 

 ery, but had to be abandoned after the turtle selected it 



