chp:lydidae 



401 



region is broad and much elongated (Fig. 87, p. 400). The 

 quadrates are drawn out into trumpet-shaped tubes. The hyoid 

 apparatus is very large, with enormous anterior and posterior 

 horns. The head and neck are as long as or even longer than the 

 carapace, which is covered with thick, lumpy shields. The skin 

 of the thick neck, of the sides and under parts of the head, is 

 produced into many soft arborescent excrescences or fimbriae, 

 those of the chin and throat and the large ear-flaps being movable 

 at will, and probably used to attract fishes and other prey. The 

 tail is very short. The fore- and hind-limbs are webbed, the former 



jUGturlion 



Fig. 8S. —(J//i'h/sJmhriata (" Matamata "). x yV- 



with five, the latter with four claws. Old specimens, which 

 reach a total length of three feet, are uniformly dark brown, and 

 look like a log covered with rough bark. The young are far less 

 ugly, with black and yellow spots on the shell, and with dark 

 stripes along the neck. 



Very little is known aliout the habits of tliis peculiar creature. 

 It is said to lie submerged in the water, waiting for fishes, frogs, 

 or tadpoles, which are attracted by the playing motions of its 

 cutaneous excrescences. The jaws being so weak, and being 

 covered with a partly soft lip-like skin, it is probable that 

 they are not used for seizing the prey, but that the latter is 

 engulfed into the mouth with the inrush of water into the throat. 



VOL. VIII 2 D 



