The Snapping Turtles 



With the mud-coloured shell lying close to the bottom, 

 the jaws thrown open to a great extent, this organ is put in motion. 

 Every other portion of the creature is as motionless as a rock. 

 In this position of rigidity the shell looks like a great, round 

 stone and blotches of fine, waving moss intensify the deception; 

 the big head looks like another stone, beneath which there is 

 a cavern and in this cavern crawls the white grub, to all ap- 

 pearances an object dear to the hearts of finny wanderers. But 

 woe to the luckless fish that swims within reach of those yawn- 

 ing jaws! 



The strength of the Alligator Turtle is enormous. The 

 specimen from which the measurements were taken upon being 

 teased with the end of a broomstick, actually severed three 

 inches from the end of this substantial material. A fair-sized 

 shad was given the turtle every three days. Slowly crawling 

 toward the food it would snap off a large section and swallow 

 it with a gulp. The piece taken out of the fish was as sharply 

 defined and quickly removed as if cut with a die. The entire 

 fish was thus consumed, in clean-cut sections. 



Captive specimens are shy and feed sparingly unless pro- 

 vided with means to hide. The specimen described was content 

 to hide under a raft of small logs, tied to one corner of the tank 

 and under which it lay for the great part of its time, occasionally 

 protruding the tip of the nose from the water. Among other 

 turtles (Clrysemys) and a number of half-grown alligators it 

 was perfectly friendly, a disposition which the writer can credit 

 to other captive specimens of this turtle and the common snapping 

 turtle as well. 



16 



