12 TEESH- WATER TURTLES. 



pounds having been reported. Its sale is confined chiefly to southern 

 markets. As it is too large to ship in barrels, it is prepared for ship- 

 ment by drilling holes with a breast drill through the edge of the 

 upper and lower shells on each side of the neck and feet, running 

 wires through and fastening it so that the head and legs can not be 

 protruded. The shell of one reported to have been taken at Han- 

 nibal, Mo., was seen by the senior author in St. Louis. The turtle 

 was reported to have weighed 27 pounds. 



THE FRESH-WATER TERRAPINS. 

 COMMERCIAL SIGNIFICANCE. 



Within the Mississippi Basin the word " terrapin " is either a 

 book name or a commercial term applied by market men to such of 

 the hard-shelled turtles as find their way into the trade. Along the 

 upper Mississippi and Illinois Eivers the only terrapin likely to be 

 used is the Le Sueur terrapin, Graptemys lesueurii (Pis. Ill and 

 IV). Along the upper Illinois a turtle, which from the description 

 was supposed to be this, was referred to as the " Genetta." In the 

 fish markets at Chicago lots of Le Sueur's terrapin and the elegant 

 terrapin, Pseudemys elegans (Wied) (Pis. V and VI), were mixed 

 together in barrels, no market distinction being made between them. 

 Some of the elegans were said to be from Memphis, and they were 

 called " Texas terrapin." In the turtle pen on the lower Illinois 

 (Grafton) elegans was about as common as lesueurii^ and was known 

 as the " pond terrapin," the other species being the " river terrapin." 

 At St. Louis the only terrapin seen at the opening of the turtle season 

 in autumn was elegans. At Grafton lesueurii was the most highly 

 esteemed of the two. Throughout the area under discussion there 

 is another terrapin, the map turtle, Graptemys geograpliica (Le 

 Sueur), so very similar to the Le Sueur terrapin that anyone but a 

 specialist (and this includes both zoologist and fisherman) is likely 

 to confuse them. The map turtle is probably as good as the others, 

 but we saw none on the market. It apparently does not reach so 

 large a size, however, and this may help explain its absence. 



Exceedingly few terrapin are used even by the dwellers along the 

 rivers, who are familiar with all sorts of aquatic food. This is prob- 

 ably due, not to their lack of excellence, but to the abundance and 

 well-known qualities of the snappers and soft-shells, which have the 

 additional advantage of larger size. The stimulus to the capture and 

 sale of the terrapin, which is as yet rather feeble, comes from a 

 demand in eastern cities, such as Pliiladelphia and Baltimore, where 

 the diamond-back has been long known and esteemed and where 

 the transition to other terrapin is easy. Along the Mississippi one 

 man, an old fisherman who had at one time been a restaurant pro- 

 prietor and famous for his cookery, said that they were most excel- 

 lent eating. One of the fish dealers on the Illinois Eiver said that 

 terrapin is as good as the soft-shell, and each when fried is superior 

 to chicken similarly prepared. In the Chicago market, unlike the 

 snapper, which is sold by the pound, the terrapin are quoted by 

 the individual or by the dozen. At one market they were quoted at 

 from 25 to 30 cents apiece, and a fair sample weighed 2 pounds 



