10 REPTILES OF THE WORLD 



leaves the water in search of a place to deposit her eggs. 

 She often wanders a considerable distance, sometimes a 

 mile or more from the larger stream or pond, but at last 

 selecting a soft, muddy place, she commences to wallow 

 and dig and does not stop until all but buried. The 

 process of depositing the eggs is performed in a leisurely- 

 fashion. It may consume a week. The eggs, to the 

 number of several dozen, are perfectly spherical with a 

 very thin, though hard and brittle shell. After the eggs 

 have been deposited, the turtle rears herself upon the 

 front feet, when the mud and debris slide from her 

 carapace, leaving the eggs covered. In wallowing 

 fashion she emerges from the burrow and trudges clum- 

 sily back to the water. Stories are frequent about Snap- 

 ping Turtles evincing a liking for terrestrial wander- 

 ings but these actually relate to the definite purpose of 

 the female in constructing a nest for the young. 



The Alligator Snapping Turtle, Macrochelys la- 

 certina, is distinguished from the common species by 

 its greater size, the high and decidedly tubercular keels 

 of the carapace, the yellowish hue of the upper shell 

 and head, and the absence of large plates under the tail. 

 Among the American fresh-water turtles, it is a veri- 

 table giant, as it attains a weight of considerably over a 

 hundred pounds; a large specimen will have a head 

 twenty-five inches in circumference. The habitat em- 

 braces those rivers that empty into the Gulf of Mexico 

 from western Texas to western Florida; northward, 

 the species ranges to Missouri. 



With a head as large as that of a bull-terrier and jaws 

 that can chop up an ordinary broom handle, the danger- 

 ous nature of this enormously strong and vicious brute 

 may be imagined. Its temper is quite in keeping with 

 its looks. In all of his attempts at photographing the 



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