352 CHELONIA 



did not hibernate. This European pond-tortoise is now restricted 

 to Southern and Middle Europe, extending eastwards towards St. 

 Petersburg and into Asia Minor, southwards into Algeria. 

 Formerly it had a much wider range, having been found in 

 post-glacial deposits in Southern Sweden, Denmark, the Nether- 

 lands, and in East Anglia. Specimens have been found in 

 the peat of the fens of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, con- 

 temporary with bones of the Beaver, Eoe-deer, and Pelican. 

 The same applies to North Germany, where its gradual dis- 

 appearance from the western and central parts is obvious. 

 Except in Central France it is now practically unknown to the 

 west of the Elbe river. The country between the Elbe and Oder 

 is now debatable ground, Emys being exceedingly rare. Some 

 fifty years ago this seems to have been different, to judge from 

 the fact that farmers were rather fond of keeping a tortoise in the 

 water-troughs of the cattle to keep the water free from worms and 

 other impurities. Hence arose a silly superstitious custom. It 

 was considered equally conducive to the health of the pigs to keep 

 a tortoise in the foul tub into which all the dish-water and 

 kitchen-refuse as potato-peels, sour milk, etc., were collected 

 before the mess was given to the pigs. 



A specimen is still occasionally caught in the Havel and 

 Spree rivers. I myself have heard of one or two in the back- 

 waters of the Oder near Frankfurt, but they are vanishing, and 

 it is difficult to say exactly why. The universal lowering of the 

 water-level owing to better drainage cannot quite account for it, 

 since there are thousands of suitable ponds, swamps, and back- 

 waters left. In Poland and in Eastern Prussia the tortoise is 

 still common. 



This creature lives on a strictly animal diet. Worms, insects, 

 frogs, fishes form its main sustenance. Fishes are regularly stalked. 

 The tortoise watches its opportunity, slowly it half crawls, half 

 swims along the bottom, rises imperceptibly by a few gentle move- 

 ments of the widely spread-out webbed feet, then opens its sharp 

 cutting jaws wide, and makes a grab at the belly of the fish. 

 Frogs are most easily stalked when they sit upon a floating leaf. 

 The tortoise rises from below, and often waits with the nostrils 

 and eyes just above the water and close to the frog. After a 

 while it sinks, and rises again, this time actually touching the 

 toes of the non-suspecting frog, smelling at them and deliberately 



