392 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



plastron covered by a thick leathery skin, flexible at the margins ; 

 neck long and flexible, snont pointed and tubular ; feet webbed- 

 Aquatic, carnivorous and very voracious. 



1 Amyda mutica Le Sueur 

 Leather turtle 

 A depression along median line of carapace, no spines or tuber- 

 cles ; olive to brown, young spotted ; feet not mottled below. 

 Length 12 inches. 



Probably found in the northern part of the state in Lakes Erie 

 and Ontario and the streams flowing into them. 



2 Aspidonectes spinifer Le Sueur 



Soft-shelled turtle 

 De Kay. Trionyx fer ox, p. 6, pi. 6, fig. 11 

 Carapace slate-colored with spots ; legs and feet mottled every- 

 where with dark ; anterior part of carapace with tubercules. 



Found in Lakes Ontario and Erie, from which they come through 

 the Erie canal to the Hudson ; also in southwestern part of state. 



Family 2 chelydridae 

 Snapping turtles 

 Represented by one species with the characters of the family. 



3 Chelydra serpentina L. 



Snapping turtle 



De Kay. Chelonura serpentina, p. 8, pi. 3, fig. 6 



Young dusky brown with dark spots ; head very large ; jaws 



strong ; tail long and strong, with crest of compressed tubercles ; 



plastron small, cross-shaped, leaving the body largely uncovered ; 



toes partially webbed. Length 24 inches. 



Found all over the state in quiet waters. Its snapping propensi- 

 ties are well known. In the spring it lays 60 to 70 eggs in the sand 9 „ 

 frequently at some distance from the water (De Kay). 



Family 3 kinosternidae 

 Box turtles 

 Carapace long and narrow, lightest behind ; margins turned 

 downward and inward rather than outward ; plastron large ; head 

 pointed ; limbs slender. 



