PROGRESS IN THE PROPAGATION OF 

 THE DIAMOND-BACK TERRAPIN 



By Lewis Radcliffe, 

 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Washington, D. C. 



In 1904, Dr. K. Mitsukuri' made the following state- 

 ment: 



"The place occupied among gastronomical delicacies by 

 the diamond-back terrapin in America and by the green 

 turtle in England is taken by the 'Suppon,' or the snap- 

 ping turtle, in Japan. The three are equally esteemed 

 and equally high priced, but the Japanese epicure has 

 this advantage over his brothers of other lands — he has 

 no longer any fear of having the supply of the luscious 

 reptile exhausted. This desirable condition is owing to 

 the successful efforts of a Mr. Hattori, who has spared no 

 pains to bring his turtle farms to a high pitch of perfec- 

 tion and is able to turn out tens of thousands of these 

 reptiles every year." 



During the ten years that have elapsed since that state- 

 ment was made, the Bureau of Fisheries has perfected its 

 experiments on the cultivation of the diamond-back ter- 

 rapin conducted at Beaufort, N. C, to a point where Am- 

 erican culturists may now expect to duplicate the work 

 of Mr. Hattori, and supply the market with thousands 

 of terrapin each year. 



Previous attempts of buyers and others unfamiliar 

 with the requirements of terrapin culture, to propagate 

 terrapin have met with little success beyond the hatching 

 of the eggs in beds provided for the purpose. Last year 

 a company was formed at Beaufort, N. C, and plans fol- 

 lowing closely the methods perfected by the Bureau of 

 Fisheries were adopted for growing terrapin for market 

 on a large scale. This company has built an excellent 

 plant covering several acres and stocked it with about 



J In Bulletin of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries for 1:04. vol. xxiv, 

 p. 260. 



