SHORT STUDIES OF TURTLES. 269 



The last of the series of ten species of turtles found in 

 this vicinity, but by no means the least, is the ferocious 

 snapper. 



This is our largest and fiercest turtle. In many ways 

 it differs materially from all the others. The common 

 name " snapper " is derived from the manner in which 

 it seizes its prey. This snapping movement is not, 

 strictly speaking, confined to this species, as has been 

 shown, but it is intensified, as it were, among them, and 

 is withal so sudden and effective that it dwarfs all like 

 efforts on the part of the other species. When a fish is 

 seen approaching, the snapper, even in the close confines 

 of an aquarium, withdraws its head, and at the same time 

 elevates its body by its fore-feet ; then, if the fish comes 

 near enough, the neck of the snapper is suddenly length- 

 ened, its body thrown forward, and the fish seized. 

 Once let the powerful jaws close upon the victim, and 

 nothing can force the turtle to relax its hold. 



Fish are not, however, the only food of the snappers, 

 as they do not hesitate to attack anything in the way of 

 beast or bird that they can seize, and if they succeed in 

 drowning the animal that they have caught, they soon 

 make a meal of it. I have known a quite small snapper 

 to seize a full-grown musk-rat by a hind leg and drag it 

 into deep water, where I suppose it was held until 

 drowned. Certainly, numbers of young ducks are annu- 

 ally destroyed by these voracious creatures. 



When on land, the snapper seems to be quite at home, 

 although his movements are very awkward in appearance. 

 They are not, however, really so, as their rate of travel 

 overland is greater than that of any other of the strictly 

 aquatic species of turtle. The late Dr. Holbrook, in his 

 rt American Herpetology," says, the snapper " moves 

 along with head and neck stretched out, moving them to 



