NOTES ON THE WATERS OP WESTERN INDIA. 11 5 



reason for believing with regard to the next group, that they have 

 been too hastily pronounced " exclusively carnivorous." 



This next group is that of fresh-water turtles. 



These are, compared to the terrapins, very flat and round, with 

 a distinct edge, something the shape of two saucers put " lip to lip." 

 They don't show any " tortoise-shell" at all, but a smooth leathery 

 surface, flexible round the edges. In front and behind, this flexible 

 edge is double, and obeys the voluntary action of the muscles, at 

 least in young specimens, which, after drawing their heads within 

 the shell, will close the edges of the upper and lower leathery flaps 

 till they almost touch each other. These fresh-water turtles have all 

 been classed as carnivorous, though Dr. Kelaart long ago recorded 

 that one {Emyda ceylonensis) in his possession fed freely on bread and 

 boiled rice. I have repeatedly myself taken wild specimens with paste 

 baits, and have seen them assemble under a wild fig tree (Ficus 

 glomerata, the Umhar or Guler), of which the ripe fruit were dropping 

 into the water, and apparently taking the figs. It is true that a ripe 

 wild fig is usually so full of maggots that it constitutes a "mixed diet." 



In the courtyard of the Black Mosque of Ahmadnagar, long ago 

 desecrated and now used as a public office, there was in my day 

 in a small cistern a fresh- water turtle, about 18 inches long, who had 

 been there as long as any one could remember, and is probably there 

 yet. The water was filtered, and the feed-pipe grated, and so little 

 food would have come to him by that road, and to put any kind of 

 animal food in the cistern would have polluted the water for many 

 people and caused trouble. The turtle was regularly fed by his 

 neighbours with vegetable food, especially, in their season, with parched 

 heads of maize, which he was very fond of. Specimens in my own 

 possession were fed on fresh dead fish, and rofused carrion. 



They are often taken by the angler with live bait, or raw meat, or 

 worms, and sometimes, as already -mentioned, with paste. They give 

 more fun sometimes than one would look for, but often cut the line 

 with their gouge-like jaws, or get into a hole, or bury themselves in 

 the mud ; and often when landed, it is found that they have gorged 

 the hook and the trace must be cut, and the hook recovered after- 

 wards by the cook. It is necessary to use great care in handling them 

 as they bite savagely, and can take the piece out ; the jaws are like 

 two gouges closing on each other. 



They make very good soup and curry, and I have been very much 

 amused at a friend's refusing the former when he knew what it was, 



