22 REPTILES OF THE WORLD 



benumbed as to suggest a run-down automaton, crawls 

 to the water's edge and employs the long dormant lungs. 

 But these February thaws, with their fleeting, fickle 

 hints of Spring, are generally fatal to the deluded crea- 

 ture. Too stupefied to again imbed itself in the mud, 

 it dumbly wanders along the margin, its movements 

 becoming slower as night comes on with a falling tem- 

 perature ; then the wind sets in from the north, bringing 

 heavy ice in which the animal is imbedded. In the 

 spring a few shells are to be found floating along the 

 river bank. They tell a mute story of impatient turtles 

 that the sun has enticed from their hibernating quarters. 

 Genus Malacoclemmys: From Chrysemys the six 

 species composing this genus are technically separated 

 by the structure — with the present genus — of the inner 

 margin of the jaws. Behind the sharp edges of the 

 mandibles the jaws are provided with very broad and 

 flat crushing surfaces; scientifically these processes are 

 known as the alveolar surfaces of the jaws. This indi- 

 cates a food involving mollusks ; and such is actually the 

 case. All of the species feed more or less upon snails. 

 The species are also characterized by a strong keel on the 

 carapace. With several, this is so high and tubercular 

 as to produce a strongly serrated outline to the curve 

 of the back; otherwise, the shell is quite smooth, except 

 with one species — the "Diamond-Back" Terrapin. Like 

 the members of Chrysemys, these turtles grow to a fair 

 size — eight to twelve inches long, in shell. Like the for- 

 mer terrapins, they are sold regularly, cheaply and in 

 large numbers in the markets under the general title of 

 "Sliders." One of them is a strong exception. A fa- 

 vorite of epicures, the "Diamond-Back" brings four 

 times the price of its near relations and is unique in 

 inhabiting the salt marshes of the eastern coastal region. 



