No. 6.] BLADDERS OF THE TESTUDINATA. 299 



and discharges it at intervals to soften the ground, that she 

 may dig a hole about 18 cm. deep for her eggs. If this is not 

 sufficient, she brings a second supply of water next morning 

 and continues digging. The above account suggests that this 

 genus may be amphibious in habit, and when more is known 

 concerning the habits of the other genera of this family, they 

 too may be found to be amphibious. The amphibious turtles, 

 as their name implies, spend a part of their time on land, and 

 often make considerable overland trips from stream to stream 

 and from pond to pond in search of their food, which is both 

 vegetable and animal, or in search of a suitable place to deposit 

 their eggs. 



Agassiz (i) says that "turtles (especially land and fresh- 

 water turtles), like frogs, usually carry with themselves a quan- 

 tity of water in the cloaca." According to the observations 

 of Prof. J. Wyman (18) this water is taken up through the 

 anus. 



Anderson (i) says that some Chelonia draw in and eject 

 water from the cloaca. In different species of the Southern 

 Asiatic Emydidae he often found the cloaca dilated with water, 

 which they ejected in jets when they drew in their limbs and 

 tail, as they usually do when suddenly taken from the water. 

 He made an examinatii)n, immediately after death, of about 

 one hundred specimens of this family which has " accessory 

 bladders," but in no case did he find the organs distended with 

 water. My own observations were made immediately after the 

 death of the animals, and, as I have before stated, I found a 

 liquid in the "accessory bladders" of Eniys blandingii, Chely- 

 dra serpentina, and Chryseviis picta. 



Darwin (6), speaking of the Testudo nigrita ^ of the Galapa- 

 gos Islands, says : 



" It is pretty well ascertained that the bladders of frogs 

 serve as a reservoir in which to carry the moisture necessary 

 to their existence. This function may be ascribed to these 

 turtles. When killed some days after their visit to the springs 

 of the island, the bladders were found distended with stored up 

 liquid. The inhabitants, if thirsty while in the low grounds, 



1 This species of tortoise has no " accessory bladders." 



