HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



229 



suggests itself, and this is the deeper waters of the 

 tide-water creeks, and those swamps that are deep 

 by reason of quicksands. Here, it may be, the 

 summers and winters of this turtle are passed. 

 Indeed, I found that the Muhlenberg turtles that I 

 kept in confinement could readily remain under the 

 surface of the water in an aquarium, for several hours, 

 without apparent inconvenience ; and when, later, 

 an individual of this species was associated with one 

 each of the mud turtle, the painted turtle, and the 

 spotted turtle, in an aquarium, the Muhlenberg 

 proved to be as active a swimmer, and remained 

 voluntarily as long beneath the surface,^as any of the 

 others. In fact, in its movements and degree of 

 activity, it most closely resembled the mud turtle. 



posed to consider, and feel little hesitancy in asserting, 

 that the Muhlenberg turtle is essentially an aquatic 

 species. 



A few words concerning the vocal powers of this 

 turtle. In the article in this magazine for February, 

 1876, to which I have already referred, I mentioned 

 the voice of the common snapping turtle. Since 

 then, I have been fortunate enough to hear this same 

 turtle make similar sounds, in its native haunts. Ih 

 every case, they were made at night ; but my 

 opportunities were such, that I am quite positive that 

 the sound heard and the turtle seen were correctly 

 associated. 



In the often-mentioned monograph by Professor 

 Agassiz, that author remarks : "Turtles have a voice. 



Fig. 166.— Muhlenberg's Turtle (C/u'loJ>us Muhlenbcr^ii). 



which is so essentially an aquatic species. Referring 

 to the respiration of turtles, Professor Agassiz re- 

 marks ; "In mud and soft-shelled turtles, the lungs 

 being much reduced in size and importance, by far 

 the greater part of the respiration must be performed 

 by the skin of the whole body, which is much thinner 

 in these families than in other turtles ; while, on the 

 contrary, in. . . the Testudo (Box tortoise) the powers 

 of respiration are no doubt performed entirely by the 

 lungs" (1. c. p. 276). In the case of the Muhlenberg 

 turtle the skin is not thick, but, being greatly 

 wrinkled, appears so ; and the lungs, are, I believe, 

 of about the same size as those of the strictly aquatic 

 species. Certainly they are very little larger, and 

 correspond more nearly to those of the snapper than 

 to the terrestrial box tortoise. Therefore, I am dis- 



Though I have myself made this observation only in 

 a few species, namely, in Eniys clegans, scrrata, 

 picta and iiisculpla, which emit a piping note ; 

 and in Cliclonia mydas, whose voice resembles 

 somewhat a quaint, low bark ; I am inclined to 

 believe that all of them have, more or less, the 

 faculty of emitting distinct sounds " (1. c. p. 284). 

 It is not to be wondered at that our turtles should 

 have voices, for they are by no means such sluggish, 

 indolent creatures as is supposed by those who have 

 only observed them indifferently or from afar off. I 

 have frequently seen them get up a " square fight " 

 over some delicate morsel, as a dead fish or drowned 

 squirrel ; and again, while peering over the side of 

 my boat into the clear depths below, I have watched 

 the spotted turtles, two and three together, go 



