526 



The National Geographic Magazine 



Egg Deposits of Snapping Turtle (Trionyx) Covered with. Wire Baskets 



The eggs are generally spherical in shape, although sometimes more or less oblate. Their diameter is 

 in the neighborhood of 20 millimeters, the largest being as large as 24 millimeters, the others smaller 

 according to the size of the females. The number of eggs in one deposit varies from 17 or 18 up to 28 or 

 more. Each female lays 2 to 4 deposits each season. 



deposits made since the last visit. Each 

 basket may be marked with the date if 

 necessary. This covering serves a two- 

 fold purpose — the obvious one of mark- 

 ing the place, and in addition that of 

 keeping other females from digging in 

 the same spot. When hundreds, or even 

 thousands, of these baskets are seen along 

 the bank of a "parents' pond," it is a 

 sight to gladden the heart of an embry- 

 ologist, to say nothing of that of the pro- 

 prietor. 



The hatching of the egg takes, on an 

 average, sixty days. The time may be 

 considerably shortened or lengthened, ac- 

 cording to whether the summer is hot 

 and the sun pours down its strong rays 



day after day, or whether there is much 

 rain and the heat not great. It may be- 

 come less than forty days or more than 

 eighty days. 



The young just hatched are put in a 

 pond or ponds by themselves and given 

 finely chopped meat of a fish like the pil- 

 chard. This is continued through Sep- 

 tember. In October the snapping turtle 

 ceases to take food, and finally burrows 

 into the muddy bottom of the pond to 

 hibernate, coming out only in April or 

 May. 



From the third to the fifth year, in- 

 clusive, the young need not be kept in 

 ponds strictly according to age, but may 

 be more or less mixed, if necessary. The 



