272 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



we consider this immunity from the attacks of enemies, 

 and the numbers of eggs that an adult annually lays, the 

 number of snappers found in any one locality is not very 

 great, and hence it is evident there must be, somewhere, 

 a check upon their increase. 



"We might be led to suppose, from their activity and 

 the enormous quantity of food consumed, that the growth 

 of the young snapper was very rapid for the first two or 

 three years ; but this is not the case. Agassiz determined 

 that when a snapper was six and one half inches long, it 

 was twelve years old ; when twelve inches long, it was 

 thirty-eight years old. After twelve years he states that 

 growth, is much slower, and mentions one instance of a 

 growth of but one inch in forty-five years. 



I have not been able to learn what may be considered 

 the maximum size of this turtle. In fact, there appears 

 to be no limit to their growth. I have seen one specimen 

 that weighed just sixty pounds, and have been told of 

 others considerably heavier. Specimens weighing over 

 thirty pounds, however, are not common. 



A few words, in conclusion, with reference to a habit 

 common to all our turtles, that of hibernation. On the 

 approach of cold weather these animals, as a class, are 

 supposed to bury themselves deeply in the mud at the 

 bottom of ponds and streams, and there to remain until 

 every vestige of winter has disappeared. This is the 

 common impression, though I question if it be strictly 

 true. Careful examination will show that the supposed 

 torpidity has, in part, no real existence. Indeed, the 

 habit is affected very materially by the severity of the 

 winter ; for when there occurs a very green Christmas, 

 it is not a remarkable occurrence to find a box-tortoise 

 on the sunny south side of some wooded slope. Languid 

 and limp, it may be, but it will be found to have enough 



