FRESH-WATER TURTLES. 11 



most other places the snapper met with praise on every hand. Many 

 had eaten no other kind of turtle but snapper, and it was liked in 

 a great variety of ways. 



In many respects, indeed, the eating of turtles may be well com- 

 pared to the consumption of mushrooms. They are looked upon as 

 a viand rather than as a food. Unknown or untried kinds are re- 

 garded with suspicion. The flesh of the box turtle is reported on 

 jDretty good authority to be unwholesome, and one man along the 

 Mississippi asserted, but probably w^ithout reliable evidence, that " the 

 striped turtles are poisonous." The general use of the snapper is much 

 like that of the morel, or sponge mushroom. Persons who eat turtle 

 at all eat this particular kind because they know it and are not so 

 certain about the others. Those who had had experience with vari- 

 ous sorts of turtles would always compare the snapper with other 

 species. Some, but rather few, and these usually people fond of a 

 pronounced gamy flavor, liked the snapper best. One man inter- 

 viewed said : " The meat of the snapper is more like beef, while that 

 of the soft-shell is more like chicken." An almost universal opinion 

 was that the snapper contains several kinds of meat. One man said 

 it contains 6 or 7 kinds; another, 7 to 9 kinds; and still another, 14 

 kinds. 



The living snapper has a somewhat musky odor, but this may dis- 

 appear or be diluted to a pleasant aroma by cooking, since no one 

 complained of it. The meat of old snappers is said to be rather 

 tough. One man said it was rendered stringy by cooking too long, 

 and in making soup should be cooked only until the flesh left the 

 bones. It may, indeed, be these two qualities — gaminess and tough- 

 ness — that have made the snapper preeminently a soup turtle. Per- 

 sons who discussed the matter of turtle soups asserted that " all turtle 

 soups are really vegetable soups in which turtle takes the place of 

 other kinds of meat." Some of these soups are highly spiced and 

 flavored. One dealer reported that -' restaurants are the only ex- 

 tensive users of turtles, and the snapper is used only for soup, which 

 is not in much demand during hot weather." In the markets of the 

 large cities there is little or no family buying of turtles, and the 

 citizen who is accustomed to buying live chickens and either having 

 them delivered or carrying them home would not think of doing 

 the same with a snapper. Even the dressed meat is rarely bought 

 for individual or family use. In the small river towns, however, 

 there is more individual buying and a greater number of methods of 

 cooking are in vogue. In one instance, at Pekin, 111., when a half 

 barrel of snappers, 10 in number, was received, 7 were immediately 

 dressed for local sale. Usually, however, the people prefer soft-shells 

 when they can get them. 



THE ALLIGATOR SNAPPER. 



The alligator snapper, Macrochelys temmincM (Harlan), which 

 is found principally in the southern part of the United States, is 

 similar in general habits to its smaller and more northern relative, 

 the common snapper. It is especially abundant in the swamps of 

 Louisiana, where an active fishery is carried on at certain seasons. 

 It reaches an immense size, examples weighing as much as 219 



