CARNIVOROUS CHELONIANS 



shore to lay their eggs and are helpless, they are turned 

 over, and then removed at leisure. It is said that the 

 jaguar imitates man in this mode of catching turtles, 

 and that he scoops out the succulent flesh then and 

 there. The product known as " tortoiseshell " has 

 been mentioned. This, as a matter of fact, comes 

 more especially from the near ally of the green turtle, 

 Chelone midas, Ch. imbricata, the hawk's bill turtle. 

 Although useless for the purposes of Calipash and 

 Calipee, the hawk's bill turtle is much hunted for its 

 tortoiseshell. The pursuit of the turtle for its tortoise- 

 shell is as old as the Egyptians, who traded with the 

 Romans. The substance is, of course, made of the 

 epidermic scales exactly comparable to those of lizards 

 and snakes, which overlie the bony plates of the 

 carapace. 



A " SNAPPING TURTLE " 



Macroclemmys temminckii may be fairly regarded 

 as the prototype of the celebrated " snapping turtle " 

 of the Bongaultier ballads, finally put to rout by Rufus 

 Daws, and at whose approach alligators bounded up 

 the trees like squirrels. It is, in fact, called the alligator 

 terrapin, though not from its association with the 

 ballad referred to. It is so named by reason of fierce 

 and slightly alligator-like head, by its ridged tail, and 

 by reason of its carnivorous habits. These water 

 tortoises, in fact, are not vegetarians like the testu- 

 dinidae of the land. They attack fish, and feed gene- 

 rally upon living animals of such kinds as their bulk 

 and agility will allow them to capture. The difference 

 between this and other water tortoises and the land 

 tortoises is, that the limbs and tail, as well as the head, 

 are too large and stout to be withdrawn into the shelter 

 of the carapace. They are obliged, therefore, to trust 



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