40 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



tube-shaped appendage at the end of the snout, and by 

 the fact that the jaws are concealed by fleshy lips. As 

 the name indicates, the limbs have only three claws. 



Trionyx is represented by a number of species both in 

 the Old and New World. They are very powerful, and 

 of ferocious habits, their sharp, cutting jaws and the 

 rapidity with which they are able to project their necks 

 rendering them highly dangerous. 



The Gangetic Trionyx, T. gangcticus, is the largest 

 species, its shell alone, which is dark olive in the adult, 

 vermiculated with fine dark lines in the young, attaining 

 a length of over two feet. The flesh of this species is 

 said to be most excellent eating, and is highly appreciated 

 by the natives. Theobald, in the Journal of the Linnean 

 Society^ gives the following lively account of the capture of 

 this species : " In hunting for the soft Turtles in the hill 

 streams, the men use a long iron fork, such as an old iron 

 ramrod, sharpened at one end, or a stout strip of bamboo, 

 which they thrust down for a foot or two in the soft 

 vegetarian sludge and decayed leaves found along the 

 margins of deep pools in the hill-streams. 



" If a fork touches a Turtle concealed below, the motion 

 of the animal is felt : a cautious examination is then made 

 with the hand, and a fish-hook is cleverly inserted in the 

 soft part about the tail. A steady haul is now made, and 

 out comes the Turtle, wildly floundering and snapping 

 at everything within its reach with pertinacious ferocity. 



" Sometimes, when the animal is large and the water 

 deep, a stake is held over the animal's back, and, with a 

 few well-delivered blows of a mallet, driven through both 

 shells. Woe betide the limb, however, which comes 



