FRESH- WATER TURTLES. 13 



and 11 onnces. Another dealer quoted them at 75 cents to $3 per 

 dozen. 



Along the Illinois Eiver a little more was learned about the 

 terrapin market. No actual fishing was in progress, but a turtle buj^er 

 from Philadelphia had visited the various fish markets and had dis- 

 tributed some information about its pecularities and market require- 

 ments. He stated that the terrapin were used as a substitute, or par- 

 tial substitute, for diamond-back, and that for this purpose the males 

 were not desired. What was wanted was the egg-bearing or " queen " 

 terrapin. (At the Washington market in the autumn of 1917, when 

 the first western — ^Le Sueur's — ^terrapin were coming on the market, 

 it was learned that one of the " egg terrapin " was mixed with several 

 diamond-back to make " diamond-back soup.") The river fishermen 

 were unable to distinguish the sexes; but the Philadelphia buyer 

 could do so, and readily picked out the " queens " from a lot of 

 terrapin at hand, discarding the rest. During the summer of 1918 

 "queen" terrapin were being quoted at that place at $1 each. At 

 St. Louis, in October, is was learned that the market men there dis- 

 tinguished the female of at least Pseudemys elegans by its much 

 longer claws. There was no opportunity to verify this b}^ dissection ; 

 but some of the turtles — a numerically small proportion of those at 

 hand — had much longer and sharper claws than the others, and 

 there was no marked intergradation in this respect. This may be a 

 correlation with their habit of digging for the purpose of laying 

 their eggs. The long-clawed terrapin, assumed to be females, also 

 generally exhibited a different marking on the under side of the 

 plastron. Late in the autumn (1918) a barrel of elegant terrapin, 

 a few individuals of which possessed exceedingly long, sharp claws, 

 was noted at Chicago. 



Both at Chicago and St. Louis the market men reported that the 

 only local buyers of terrapin were the Chinese, who are also buyers 

 of the diamond-back shipped from the east. One of the proprietors 

 of a fish market stated that the Chinese used the terrapin chiefly 

 medicinally, "to clear the blood," and that by calling at a Chinese 

 restaurant designated by him further information and a recipe could 

 be secured. Upon visiting the place a very accommodating Chinese 

 chef furnished the following information : " Turtles are good for 

 internal troubles, for the blood, and especially for tuberculosis. 

 They are cooked together with herbs imported from China and for 

 which there is no English name. According to one recipe, the bones 

 of the turtle are removed and the under part of the shell is boiled 

 two or three hours with the skeleton of a duck. According to 

 another, the meat is boiled in a double boiler with strong alcoholic 

 wines, whislry, gin, etc." He added that he partakes of turtle in 

 this manner only a few times in a year, when he feels in need of a 

 tonic, stating that it makes him feel like a new man. Diamond-back 

 terrapin was said to be the best turtle to use for this tonic, but, as 

 it is very expensive, the hard-shell turtle, " Texas terrapin," is used 

 as a substitute. Both from the remarkable similarity of the last 

 given recipe to that of ordinary diamond-back-terrapin soup, and, 

 from the statement of a native of China that the people of that 

 country do not eat turtle, we are inclined to suspect that the use of 

 terrapin is an American extension of the native bill of fare. 



