268 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



of this musk or stinking turtle. In an early volume of 

 the " American Naturalist " I referred to this species as 

 follows, in connection with the habits of a curious little 

 fish, the mud-minnow : I remarked that these minnows 

 are exposed to attacks from a voracious animal, which 

 takes advantage of the habit of the minnow of lying 

 more than half buried in the mud. The musk-turtle is 

 able to discover the whereabouts of the mud-minnow 

 without alarming the fish, and, cautiously approaching 

 from behind, seizes it by the head. This they generally 

 completely sever from the body, and then draw from the 

 mud the decapitated body. 



I have lately had specimens of these turtles in an 

 aquarium, in which I placed a number of mud-minnows ; 

 and have seen the turtles time and again seize the fish 

 with all the dexterity and quickness of a snapper. I be- 

 lieve this habit has gradually come about much in the 

 following way : These mud-minnows have a curious 

 habit of assuming the strangest positions, often quite 

 unlifelike, and maintain them for many minutes at a time. 

 They might readily be mistaken for bent tw T igs or life- 

 less, distorted fish. Under these circumstances, a prowl- 

 ing musk-turtle, seeing a mud-minnow which it supposed 

 to be dead, might snap at it in a somewhat leisurely way 

 and succeed in seizing it. More frequently, however, it 

 would fail in the effort. Want of success would, how- 

 ever, insure greater caution and quicker movements on 

 the part of the turtle, and finally result in establishing the 

 method of stealthy approach and quick snap that charac- 

 terizes the true snapping-turtle. Whether this explains 

 the origin of the habit or not, certain it is that the musk- 

 turtle does now seize active, living prey, and that it exer- 

 cises much caution in approaching, and dexterity in seiz- 

 ing it. 



