CiiAP. III. GENERA OF CIIELYDROID.E. 415 



Mississippi, made by an old bed of the great river, ■\vliich measured nine inches 

 between the eyes. I took no other measurement of its dimensions, and had 

 no moans of -woighino; it ; l)iit 1 am confident it Avould have weiglicd more tlian 

 a ]iun(h-ed pounds. I saw the skull of one much smaller, caught by a gentle- 

 man in the same county, which -weighed seventy-five pounds. I have seen none 

 of half that size in this vicinity. I kept two for sevei'al years in my fish-pond. 

 They became very tame, but finding they were eating my fish I shot one, and 

 wounded the other with a fish-gig; but his sagacity prevented my capturing him. 

 1 fed the perch and minnows with liread. wliich the alligator turtle' devoured 

 greedily. One day, after he had eaten, he remained upon the rock where I had 

 fed him, and which was only about a foot beneath the surfiice, wdiere it shelved 

 over water ten feet deep. A swarm of minnows and perch were picking up 

 crumbs around him, apparently unconscious of his presence. His head and feet 

 were drawn sufticiently within his shell to be concealed. Ilis mossy shell could 

 not well be distinguished from the projections of the rock, on which he was 

 lying in ambusli. Several large bass were gliding around him, occasionally dart- 

 ing at the minnows. One of these, about fourteen inches in length, came within 

 striking distance of his head, which he suddenly thrust out and fastened upon 

 him, fixing his aquiline bill deeply into his side and belly. He immediately 

 drew the fish under him, and, holding him down firmly to the rock with his 

 forefeet, ate him greedily, very much as a hawk devours its prey. I drew out 

 a large line and hook and baited it with a minnow, and threw it to him, 

 determined to get rid of this skilful angler. He seized it ; I gave a .sharp 

 jerk, and fastened it in his lower jaw. Finding him too heavy to lift by the 

 hook upon a rock six feet perpendicular, I led him around to the lower end 

 of the pool, where the bank w^as low, and the water shallow. But, after getting 

 him within a few feet of the edge of the water, he anchored himself by stretch- 

 ing forward his forefeet, and resisted all my eftbrts to get him nearer. He 

 seemed to be in a furious rage, and, after several sharp snaps at the line, he 

 broke the hook and retreated into the deepest part of the pool. I never could 

 get him to bite at any thing afterwards; and, finding I had a design upon his 

 life, he became very shy. I afterwards discovered him in dei'p water, eating the 

 bread wliicli fell from the shelving rock, on which he had led for several years, 

 but upon whicli he never veutiu-ed afterwards when I was near. 1 threw a gig 

 at him, and fastened it in his neck ; Imt, l)y a violent ell'ort with one of his 

 forefeet, he tore it loose and ran un<ler the rock. I frequently saw him after 

 his escape, but always in the act of retreating to his liiding-place. wliirli was 



* TUU is llii' name given to this species in tlio Southern Slates. 



