1755.] PETER COLLINSON. 197 



are very large of a dark muddy colour large round tail, and 

 feet with claws, the old ones mossy on the back, and often seve- 

 ral horse leeches sucking the superfluous blood ; a large head, 

 sharp nose, and mouth wide enough to cram one's fist in, very 

 sharp gums, or lips, which you will, with which they will catch 

 hold of a stick, offered to them or, if you had rather, your finger 

 which they will hold so fast that you may lift the turtle by it as 

 high as your head, if you have strength or courage enough to lift 

 them up so high by it. But as for their barking, I believe thy 

 relator barked, instead of the turtle. They creep all over, in the 

 mud, where they lie perdu; and when a duck, or fish, swims near 

 them, they dart out their head as quick as light, and snap him up. 

 Their eggs are round as a bullet, and choice eating. 



As for the Opossums, I can't endure to touch them, or hardly 

 look at them, without sickness at stomach ; and I question whether 

 any beast of prey is so fond of them as to kill them for food : and 

 as they make but little resistance, but by their loathsome scent, 

 few creatures will kill them for sport, except dogs. But if Wolves 

 or Panthers should chase them, they can creep into less holes in 

 a hollow tree, or between rocks, than their pursuers can : or if 

 suddenly surprised, there is a tree or bush mostly at hand, where 

 they can be secure ; for they can run to the extremity of a hori- 

 zontal branch, and lap their tail-end round a slender twig, by which 

 they will hang, pendulous, out of the reach of larger animals. 



December 16, 1754. 



And now I have shipped on the Myrtilla, Budden, * * and 

 for thyself, one box of plants in moss, and a box of a great variety 

 of seeds, and a quire of specimens of our Oaks, with their acorns 

 on in perfection, according to thy desire ; besides, my son William 

 hath drawn most of our real species of Oaks, and all our real spe- 

 cies of Birches, with an exact description of their particular cha- 

 racters, not according to grammar rules, or science, but nature. 



March, 1755. 



Dear Peter : 



I have received thy kind letters of October the 8th and 24th, 

 1754 ; am well pleased with the description of the agreeable situa- 



