Species of North American Tortoises. J '29 



Inhabits from New-England to Florida in rivers, and seems 

 to prefer muddy and impure water to that which is clear. It 

 has also been sent to the Lyceum from Lake Superior by Mr. 

 Schoolcraft. This species is very voracious in its habits and 

 destroys great quantities of fish ; it is also more ferocious than 

 any other, and will seize with violence any thing presented to 

 it, nor let go its hold even when the head is separated from the 

 body: the wound inflicted by its bite is very severe. It is 

 much sought after as an article of food, but when old the flesh 

 is apt to be rank and disagreeable, at all times it possesses a 

 strong musky odour; from which circumstance, as well as 

 from its long and crested tail, it has received in the southern 

 parts of our country the name of alligator tarapin. 



The French naturalists appear to have described two species 

 resembling this, the one, T. lacertina, answers exactly to our 

 serpentina, and the other, which they term T. serpentina, seems 

 to be the same animal in a less advanced stage, the chief dif- 

 ference between the two, consisting in three rows of promi- 

 nences on the shell. 



With respect to the Testudo denticulata, said to be an 

 inhabitant of this country, if the figure published by Shaw is a 

 correct representation of it, no one I think can hesitate to 

 pronounce it an imposition. Nature is consistent with herself; 

 and whatever supposed aberrations may be observed in any 

 of her works, we never see such an outrageous monstrosity a?; 

 is exhibited in this suppositious species. 



Thus it is to be hoped that I have reduced to some certainty 

 all the species of land and fresh water tortoises that have fallen 

 under my observation. Many remain to be discovered by 

 some more fortunate naturalist. The extensive regions of the 

 west have yet to he explored, and even the rivers of the 



