6 FEESH-WATER TURTLES. 



SHIPMENT AND STORAGE. 



Generally speaking, the men who catch the turtles make no 

 attempt to hold or store them but ship them to market as soon as 

 they can collect a sufficient quantity. 



The turtles are usually shipped in barrels with holes bored througli 

 the bottom and through the sides for ventilation and with burlap 

 nailed over the top. In this condition, of course, the contents are 

 not open for observation, and a thriving turtle fishery may be in 

 active operation in a particular region unknown to the general 

 public. Since barrels have become expensive, the catches are some- 

 times shipped in crates similar to those used for chickens. 



Upon arrival at the larger markets the containers may simply be 

 stored in a cool place, where the turtles will remain in hibernation, 

 ready for disposal by wholesale or retail as the market demands. 

 It is with the return of warm weather that the storage question be- 

 comes important. 



A good many dealers do not attempt to hold turtles at all but 

 pass them to the consumer as rapidly as possible. In the basement 

 of a large wholesale market at Chicago, a cool moist situation, there 

 is a large turtle pen, or, rather, a series of pens, which will hold 

 about 2}; tons of the living animals. They do very well here until 

 summer a rives, when the loss is considerable. Here the snappers are 

 Avashed off occasionally, but the problem of feeding them has not 

 been satisfactorily solved. 



It might do much toward stabilizing the market if the intermedi- 

 ate buyers along the rivers, in order to be ready for early fall deliv- 

 ery, would establish large pounds to retain the spring catch, as well 

 as the occasional turtles taken during the summer. It was stated 

 that there was formerly a storage pen at Clear Lake, 111., where 

 25,000 or 30,000 turtles could be satisfactorily kept; but that in 

 recent years, owing to changed stream conditions, together with 

 the consequent diminution in abundance of the animals, the pen 

 has been abandoned. At Grafton, 111., a pound was observed which 

 has been in existence about four years and which was originally 

 designed to retain carp, as well as turtles and terrapin. It is located 

 near the river and comprises a pond supplied by seepage from the 

 river and by rainfall. The size of the pond varies, therefore, accord- 

 ing to weather and stream conditions, but at the time observed its 

 dimensions were about 207 by 135 feet. This pond, having banks 

 of considerable steepness, occupies nearly the entire area of the pen. 

 The walls are riprapped with stone and surmounted by a wire fence 

 of 1-inch-square mesh. The pound was said to contain 4,000 or 

 5,000 terrapin and 2 tons of snappers. It was observed at Grafton, 

 as elsewhere, that quantities of terrapin are always estimated by 

 number, and snappers by weight. Two kinds of terrapin Avere dis- 

 tinguished ; the river terrapin described as " rough," which proved 

 upon examination to be Grapfe77iys lesueurii, and the " pond ter- 

 rapin," described as " striped," which proved to be Pseudemys 

 elegant. The former was regarded as much superior to the latter. 

 During the summer, according to information furnished the authors, 

 the turtles had been fed on fishery waste and on hog lights, of Avhich 

 they appeared to be very fond. They were being shipped to the 

 markets of Boston and Philadelphia. 



