MANDRAKES; WILD LUPINE, AND NOTES ON SNAPPING TURTLE 



999 



when opportunity has offered, negatives have been made 

 by me from Hfe. Prints from three of these have been 

 reproduced to illustrate this account of its life and habits. 



The young are generally dark brown on the upper 

 parts, with a deep shade of ashy gray for the under 

 parts. Older specimens are much lighter above and yel- 

 lowish white beneath. There is considerable variation 

 in these tints, however, while other characters are far 

 more constant. For example, the under side of the tail 

 exhibits a series of large shields, as compared with the 

 scales of the Alligator snapper in the corresponding local- 

 ity. On the back {carapace) of our snapper there are three 

 longitudinal ridges — a median one, with one upon either 

 side of it. Big snappers will come to weigh upwards of 

 fifty pounds — rarely over forty in nature; and they have 

 a length of shell that measures an inch or two over a 

 foot. In some parts of the country, more particularly in 

 New England, snappers are often kept in the "swill- 

 barrel," where they become inordinately fat and heavy, 

 and are then said to make fine soup. 



In young snappers the tail is very long in proportion 

 to the rest of the body. Practically, this character is 

 manifest throughout life, while, as in all aquatic chelon- 

 ians, the feet are broad and paddle-like, and evidently 

 adapted to powerful swimming. Snappers are unable to 

 draw into the shell either the head or the tail ; much less 

 are they able to close the shell in front or behind, as. do 

 our well known land tortoises {Tcrepene). They are 

 pretty tough, however ; not easily observed in their native 

 element, and vicious to a fault. Personally I 

 have never met with a mutilated snapper in 

 nature, while box tortoises are frequently found 

 that exhibit the result of various injuries, the 



Fig. 8. HERE IS A MUCH OLDER SPECIMEN OF THE AMERICAN 

 SNAPPING TURTLE THAN THE ONE SHOWN IN FIGURE 7. THE 

 SCALES ON THE UNDER SIDE OF THE TAIL ARE PLAINLY SEEN, 

 AS WELL AS ITS BIG, PADDLE-LIKE FEET 



Observe the defenseless state of the body in this Snapper, and the pecu- 

 liar formation of the small, elongate plastron, with its overlying plates 

 of pale yellow. 



ing of moss. 



majority of which have been at the hands of man. Snappers 

 possess splendid powers of sight, notwithstanding the fact 

 that their eyes are small, and probably their other senses are 

 more or less well developed. In nature as well as in aquaria 

 their backs often grow a great mass of dark green, wavy moss, 

 which streams backwards as they swim along, and which is a 

 source of great protection to the animal, in as much as it causes 

 it to resemble a roundish, flat brown stone, having a cover- 



Fig. 7. THIS YOUNG SNAPPING TURTLE IS ABOUT SIX MONTHS OLD. NOTE THE GREAT 

 LENGTH OF ITS TAIL AND ITS WONDERFULLY BRIGHT EYES 



At this age the upper surface of the shell of the young Chelydra serpentina is dark brown, and very rough 



superticially. 



This species can remain under water for a long time ; and 

 when settled among the mud-covered rocks, in places where 

 it is not too deep, it will stretch its neck out once in a long 

 while, bringing the very tip of its snout out of the water, to 

 take in a fresh supply of air. In such situations, too, it will 

 patiently lie in wait for any hapless fish, duckling, or frog 



that may swim over it ; and 

 should it come within reach — 

 quick as a flash its long neck is 

 protruded, its unsuspecting quar- 

 ry seized, drowned or killed, and 

 subsequently eaten by this most 

 voracious of chelonians. The 

 bite of a large snapping turtle 

 may be very severe indeed, es- 

 pecially should it succeed in get- 

 ting hold of a finger or toe ; for 

 its sharp jaws can snip such a 

 member off as clean as though 

 done with an ax. 



Should a snapper, lying in wait 

 for food, find that nothing is 



