18 TESTUDINATA. EMYDIDJE. 



Family II. Emydid^. 



{Marsh Tortoises.) 



This is the most numerous in species of the 

 Families of the Testudinata. MM. Dumeril and 

 Bibron observe, that America produces more Marsh 

 Tortoises than all the rest of the world put to- 

 gether ; for of the seventy -four species composing 

 this family, forty-six are confined to that con- 

 tinent. The cause of this disproportion they 

 attribute to the vast body of water in the form of 

 immense lakes, marshes, and rivers with which 

 the expanse of America is intersected. The con- 

 tinent of Africa, on the other hand, which offers 

 in this respect so great a contrast to the former, 

 presents us with but three species of Emydidcey 

 but is very rich in Testudinidce. 



The Marsh Tortoises, or Terrapins, have the 

 body much flatter, the carapace being less arched, 

 than the Land Tortoises. The toes are separated, 

 or rather separately moveable, and are furnished 

 with hooked claws ; they are usually connected by 

 a palmated membrane or web, and the hind feet 

 are larger than the fore ones. They have twelve 

 plates on the plastron; they withclraw the head 

 and neck between the shields. 



The habits of this Familv differ much from 

 those of other Tortoises. They swim with facility, 

 and walk on land ^'^•ith a less slothful gait than 

 the Testiidinidce. They inhabit marshes, stagnant 

 ponds, lakes, and even small rivers whose course 

 is gentle ; feeding on small water-animals, such as 

 frogs and newts, the young of web-footed fowl. 



