PRESH-WATER ANIMALS. 313 



other aquatic reptiles, fisb, and even young water-birds ; 

 and so forcible and violent is their bite, that I have known 

 a stick of half an inch in diameter at once snapped asunder 

 by the jaws of a snapping Turtle, CJielydra serjoentina ; and 

 a specimen of Trionyx, lately in possession of Mr. Cross, of 

 the Surrey Zoological Gardens, snapped ofP the finger of a 

 sailor when on his voyage to this country."' 



Fresh-water Tortoises generally seize and hold their food 

 with such tenacity that they may often be caught in the 

 same manner as we sometimes see little boys catching crabs, 

 namely by tying a piece of meat or entrail to a string, per- 

 mitting the Tortoise to seize it, and then suddenly drawing 

 it out of the w^ater. 



Turtles. 



Although Marine Testudinata have not yet been made 

 the subjects of study in an Aquarium, yet, closely connected 

 as they are with the family we have just dismissed, it may 

 be interesting to mention one or two facts connected with 

 them. "The food of the green Turtle consists of marine 

 plants, especially the sea-wrack, Zostera marina. They 

 graze at the bottom of the water, coming at intervals to 

 the surface to breathe. As this mode of takinsj their food 



