SOFT-SHELLED "TURTLE" 43 



the bones being literally few and far between, and the upper 

 and lower shells are quite unconnected by bony structure. 

 The feet are large and strongly webbed, but only the three 

 inner toes are provided with claws. In habit these creatures 

 are persistently aquatic, rarely going upon dry land, and they 



SOFT-SHELLED "TURTLE." 

 Aspidonectes ferox, from Florida. 



are both voracious and carnivorous. They live upon fish, 

 fish-eggs, frogs, angle-worms and small mollusks generally. 



THE SOFT-SHELLED " TURTLE ?>1 is perhaps the most com- 

 mon representative of this Family in the United States. It 

 is found from South Carolina westward through the Gulf 

 states to Texas; up the Mississippi to Indiana, Illinois and 

 the Great Lakes, north and westward up the Missouri to 

 the Rocky Mountains. 



1 As-pi-do-nec'tes fe'rox. 



