1920] Turtles of North Carolina 63 



(B) The side-necked turtles (Pleurodira) in which the shell is 

 covered with horny plates and the neck bends sideways (in a hori- 

 zontal plane) when drawn back. The species are all south tropical. 



(C) The S-necked turtles (Cryptodira) in which the shell is 

 covered with horny plates and the neck bends in a vertical plane 

 when drawn back. The majority of existing turtles belong here, in- 

 cluding all the marine species except the leatherbacks. 



All of these groups except the Pleurodira are represented in this 

 State or off our coasts, so that at present the turtles are known to 

 be represented in our State by four marine and fourteen inland species. 



Of the marine turtles, which, however they may differ in struc- 

 ture, all agree in having the limbs developed as flattened paddles for 

 swimming and in having the front limbs much larger than the hind 

 ones, we get the leatherback, green turtle, loggerhead and bastard 

 turtle. 



The leatherback is only occasional on our coast, but one caught 

 near Beaufort ^is now preserved as a mounted specimen in the State 

 Museum at Raleigh and weighed about 800 pounds. The species is 

 sometimes used as a source of oil. 



The green turtle used to be common on our coast but has been 

 hunted so much for food, and its eggs collected for the same reason 

 that it is now very scarce. 



The loggerhead and bastard turtle are still quite common in sum- 

 mer and the former breeds but the latter does not, its breeding season 

 being reported to be in the winter on the Florida coast. 



These marine species all feed on both marine plants and animals. 



Of the land and fresh water forms we get species belonging to 

 three families, while members of a fourth, the Trionychidae or soft- 

 shelled turtles should enter our State from either the south or west 

 or both, but as yet we have no satisfactory records of them. 



The three families referred to above are the Chelydridae or snap- 

 ping turtles with a narrow cross-shaped plastron, large head and long 

 tail ; the Kinostermidae, or mud turtles, in which the plastron has ten 

 or eleven plates and is divided into three parts, a fixed middle portion 

 and a front and hind portion, both of the latter, or at least the front 

 part being capable of being moved so as to partially close the shell, 

 and the Testudinidae or terrapins, in which the plastron has twelve 

 plates and is either wholly fixed or divided into only two portions, 

 which are movable on a central hinge. 



