364 THE MOUNTAIN. 



and geese. Instances are known of their seizing upon the 

 noses of mules and horses that stooped to drink where they 

 were concealed watching for their prey. They are extremely 

 tenacious of life, and are endowed with such intense organic 

 or vegetative vitality that the heart, dissected from the body 

 and laid upon a plate, will pulsate for a day and a half, and 

 the decapitated head will bite for several hours after being 

 separated entirely from the body. This reptile is eaten, and 

 considered a delicacy. Its range is the eastern side of the 

 continent from Maine to Florida and Louisiana, and west 

 to the Missouri River. 



Family CINOSTERNOIDJE. 



This is an exclusively aquatic family. They are small 

 turtles, according to Agassiz, "the average size of the 

 representatives of this family being smaller than in any other 

 family of the testudinata." They are fierce and wild, living 

 upon animal food. Two genera are found on the mountain. 



Sub-Family of OZOTHECOIDJE. 



OZOTHECA Odorata, (Ag.) Range, from New England 

 to South Carolina, Georgia, West Florida, Missouri, and 

 Louisiana. Occurs on the mountain. 



Sub-Family of CINOSTERNOID^E. 



THYROSTERNUM Pennsylvanicum, (Ag.) This species 

 " occurs from Pennsylvania to Florida, and westward to 

 Mississippi Yalley." Sometimes seen at base of mountain. 



Family 



This is an extensive family, including, according to Agassiz, 

 " sixty well-known species, and presenting the broadest ranges 

 of differences in habits, size, and structure." This varied or- 

 ganization gives a wide habitat. Most of them live in or 

 near water in pools or marshes, or on the edges of streams, 

 being part of the time in the water and part on land. One 



