^Sr j Observations on the Chelonians 



of North America. IX. 

 \ \ DR. R. W. SHUFELDT, C. M. Z. 5. 

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Southern Soft-shelled Turtle 



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It is not a difficult matter to distinguish 

 a Spiny Soft-shelled turtle from the 

 Florida species, for the former has an 

 olive instead of a brown head, on each 

 side of which we may note, including the 

 neck, a yellow, black-edged line running 

 through the eye, and joining the one 

 from the opposite side at the root of the 

 nose. Then, on the anterior edge of the 

 carapace in this species we find a con- 

 spicuous row of little cone-shaped tu- 

 bercles, which are entirely lacking in the 

 other species. 



This Spiny Soft-shell rarely exceed 15 

 inches in length of carapace ; and, like 

 its congeners, it causes no end of annoy- 



ance to anglers in streams and ponds 

 where it may occur in numbers, and for 

 the reason that it will take the worm or 

 minnow on the hook as quickly as any 

 fish that ever lived — and if hooked, it will 

 put up the stiffest kind of a fight to get 

 away. 



Our Spiny Soft-shell is an abundant 

 species in all the area inhabited by it ; 

 it even extends its excursions into the 

 big canals in New York State, and by 

 so doing finds its way into the Hudson 

 River, where a few specimens are taken 

 every season. 



Of all the North American species of 

 these turtles, the "brown" is the small- 



