EIVEE TOETOISE. 



165 



with dead bait, to wliicli the sportsman gives motion and apparent 

 life, for they are said never to approach dead prey. When they 

 seize their victim, or defend themselves, they dart out their head 

 and long neck with great rapidity, biting sharply with their 

 trenchant beak, and holding on till they have bitten out the 

 piece. From this peculiarity they are commonly known in the 

 United States as the Snapping Turtle. Persons wading have been 

 known to lose toes from their bite. 



M. Lesueur states that towards the beginning of May the 



Fig. 39. — Triouyx .^gj-ptiacus. 



females of Gymnopiis spinifera, belonging to this division, seek 

 out sunny sandy spots on the river's bank for the deposit of their 

 eggs ; they are not deterred from choosing steeps of ten or fifteen 

 feet for this purpose. Their eggs are spherical, and more fragile 

 than those of the Marsh Tortoise. They deposit from fifty to 

 sixty at a time. None of this group are found in Europe. The 

 fresh- water lakes and rivers of the warmer regions, such as the 

 Nile and the Niger, in Africa, the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the 



