10 TKESH-WATER TURTLES. 



by nutrition experts, by chemists who can compute its value in 

 terms of calories, carbohydrates, proteins, digestibility, etc., and 

 by experiments with " diet squads." This is fundamentally the most 

 important question. Certain it is that the white and the deep-red, 

 dressed meat as displayed in the fish markets is very attractive in 

 appearance. 



Scarcely less important, however, is the question of its gustatory 

 qualities; for whatever gives zest to our necessary foods is by no 

 means to be despised. References in literature to the relative merits 

 of different species of turtle are rather few. Nash<» says of the 

 common soft-shelled turtle {Ainyda splnifcra) : " The flesh of this 

 turtle is considered a delicacy j " and of the snappers : " Their flesh 

 is considered good and in some localities they are much sought after 

 for making into soup." 



The flavor of the snapper, like that of other sorts of game or 

 meat, varies somewhat according to the habits of the individual 

 animal and according to the method of preparation. Perhaps the 

 best method of approach to this phase of the subject is a consideration 

 of the habits of the turtle. 



The snapper is very voracious, feeding on frogs, fishes, crayfish, 

 young water birds, etc. It has been accused of catching and eating 

 young ducks. Those examined at Lake Maxinkuckee, Ind., had been 

 eating snails {TivijJara contectoides) , and seven individuals exam- 

 ined at the Pekin (111.) market, caught at Fort Madison, Iowa, in 

 June, 1918, contained solid masses of mud. Two had fragments of 

 crayfish in the mud, one a piece of wood, and another the bones of a 

 frog. A large one caught at Fairport, Iowa, a good deal earlier 

 in the season had its stomach practically empty. 



In the summer the snappers may be caught far from water, in 

 grassy places, or in mudholes and puddles, and those caught in one 

 place would doubtless differ in flavor from those caught in another. 

 The turtle from the mud puddle would taste differently from the one 

 caught on the grassy sward, just as beef from cattle and milk from 

 cows grazing in a garlicky meadow differ from the products of a 

 blue-grass pasture; just as the canvasback duck well fed on wild 

 celery is the delight of epicures, while the same species feeding on 

 the fetid Chara is as distasteful as any coot and the celery-fed coot 

 excellent eating, and as a carp from a warm, muddy puddle is soft 

 and rank, while one from a cool clear stream or pond is firm and 

 excellent. Doubtless, the hibernating turtles taken from their winter 

 quarters have approached a uniformity of flavor. 



Still, taking the snapper by and large, it is sufficient to say that it 

 has been exceedingly difficult to find, either spoken or printed, any 

 words of disparagement. At Lake Maxinkuckee, it is true, the opin- 

 ion was expressed that old snappers have a rank flavor and are 

 tough ; but the animals were there taken in summer from the beds 

 of fetid Chara, which, when fed upon, will give even the choicest 

 waterfowl a rank flavor. In addition to this, they naturally haunted 

 the muddier parts of the lake, and, as has been said, subsisted on 

 snails. Also, the delicious soft-shells Avere very abundant in that 

 region, and the snapper would naturally suffer by comparison. In 



" Nash, C. W. : Manual of the vertebrates of Ontario. Published by Dept. of Education, 

 Toronto. 1908. 



