213 REPTILES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



This species has a veiy disgusting odor, and is hence some- 

 times called stink-pot. 



It is found burying itself in the mud in ditches and small 

 ponds, frequently covered with a thick coat of foreign matter, 

 from which circnmstance it has received the common name of 

 mud tortoise. 



A single specimen of this species was found in Fresh Pond 

 in Cambridge by J. W. Randall, M. D. ; one specimen was 

 taken at Amherst, and several at Falmouth by Professor C. B. 

 Adams ; and Mr. Erastus H. Clap has brought me one from 

 Walpole. 



Emysaurus. Dumeril. 



Generic characters. Head large, covered icith small plates ; 

 snout short ; jatvs hooked ; two iDarts beneath the chin; ster- 

 num immoveable, crucifortn, composed of ten plates ; three 

 sterno-costal plates ; fore feet with five clcnvs, hind feet ivith 

 four ; tail long, surmounted loith a scaly crest. 



E. serpentina. Lin. The snake Tortoise. 



Shaw's Zoology, vol. iii. pt. 1. p. 72, etfig. 



Ann. Lye. N. Y. vol. iii. p. 128. 



Dum. et Bibr. Hist. Nat. des Rept. vol. ii. p. 350. 



This is the largest tortoise found within the borders of our 

 State ; sometimes weighing from 15 to 20 pounds. It is ex- 

 ceedingly powerful and voracious, feeding upon fishes and 

 frogs ; and the farmers sometimes complain of its depredations 

 among their chickens and ducklings. From its habit of snap- 

 ping suddenly at almost every thing offered it, it is generally 

 known by the name of the " snapping tortoise,''^ in New Eng- 

 land, while its crested tail, resembling the Crocodilus hicius, gives 

 it the distinction at the South, of ^^ alligator tortoise.^' It is 

 usually found in filthy water, and is occasionally met with at 

 considerable distance from any pond or pool, dragging itself 

 leisurely along. 



