How Turtles Lay Their Eggs

JíTora the JN ew ï ork Sun. The turtles beigin laying on the 7th of May. The feuiales generally come on the beach at night. Their course upon the sand is marked by the tails and flippers. The trail from the water to a point above high tide is as traight as a Une. Approachiug a chosen spot, the turtle makes a gentle swerve to the north, and sounds tlie sand with her flippers. Satisfied of the desirableness of the situation, she begins to dig a hole. To do this her bind flippers alone are used. Her work is remarkable, if not artistic. The hole is shaped like the inside of a large jng. lts neck is small, but íts interior is circular, and from fifteen to twenty or more inches in diameter. The sides are smooth and rounded throngh the use of the flippers. No workman in pottery could turn out a job more true. Frequently the turtle is disaatisfied with her labor. Probably she finds the ground undermined by the bright eyud sand crabs that dance aloug the shore. In that case she makes a curvo to the east and marches directly to the water, emerging at some other poir t and goiug through the same performance. Sometimos she digs four or five holes before she begins to deposit her egsrs. Her nest flnished, the female turtle settles down to work. Up to this time she invariably takes tj water at the approach of a stranger. After she begins to lay, the pre8ence of an arniy would not fright en her. A man could Btand upon her back, and she would keep her position untü the last egg was dropped. Dr. F. Fox, a well-known hunter of New Smyrua, teil me that he once saw a bear take his stand behind a turtle on the nest. Bruiu caught the eggs in altérnate paws as they feil, and devoured them with a bmack of the chops that could beheard at the distance of 100 yards. Bears have been known to watch turtles for hours, and then tear them to pieces because they showed no disposition to lay. The eggs are deposited at a depth of from fifteen to eighteen incheg. They aré not oval but round, and nearly the size of a hen's eggs The shell ia flexible, and white as snow. It is as elastio as rubber. Dent an ese witn your tnumb and the indentation will last tor hours. Egg hunters always carry a bag, in which they drop the eggs. A bag of eggs can be thrown aerosa a horse, the horge ridden at full gallop, and not an egg broken. In tilling their nests the females display marvelous skill. The eggs are deposited in layers so arranged that there is not an inch of room to spare. No human hand eould show suoh knowledge of packing. Beaehcombers are repeatedly astonished at the quantity of oggs taken from a small nest. They say they have repeatedly tried to replace them as they found them, but in no instance have they succeerled in getting more than twothirds of them baok in the hole. From seventy-five to 150 eggs are found in each nest. The general average is 130. Dr. Fox say 8 he has unearthed 170. Last year, however, Dr. Wallace of Turtle Mound, discovered a hole containing 210 eggs. This is probably the largest nest ever fouud on the Florida coast. When the female has filled her nest, she covers the hole with moistened sand and packs it down with her flippers. No garden roller oould make it more solid. The spot is then sprinkled with looso sand, and the old turtle returns to the soa. The eggs hatch within thirty-five days. The summer sun is very warm, and the sand becoines so hot that it blisters tbe feet.- When the young ones break the shell, they swarm to the surface and take a beeline for the water. Instinct points out the direct route. Men have driven shingles around a turtle.s nest and awaited the hatching of the eggs. Though out of sight of the water, the little ones would crowd the side of the enclosure nearest the ocean, and die there unless released. When dropped behind a sand-bank they turn to the east and travel in that direction with the confident eagernesa of a Masonic neophyte. When hatched, they are a little larger than a silver half-dollar.