REPTILIA 143 



of the ground to prevent the terrapin from digging out. A foundation 

 of brick was abandoned because the terrapin scratched at them until 

 they wore away their claws. For the winter trade the terrapin must be 

 dug out of the sand, sometimes from a considerable depth. 



"The trouble in raising terrapin heretofore has always been that 

 the animals in confinement will invariably eat their own eggs. It 

 was many years before I was able to overcome this trouble. Even 

 after I had perfected an incubator I could not fill them because the eggs 

 were either destroyed or were scattered all over the pens, buried out of 

 sight, sometimes at some little depth, which necessitated spading 

 up the entire farm each day to secure them. This process was so dis- 

 turbing to the terrapin that it was abandoned. One day after feeding, 

 a hillock of sand was left in one of the pens by the receding water. The 

 following morning I found this hillock literally sown with fresh eggs. 

 I have since learned that terrapin always seek elevations in which to 

 deposit their eggs. Now hillocks of sand are carefully prepared and 

 maintained in each of the breeding pens. I have only to turn the 

 sand over with my hands to uncover the eggs." Three sets, with 

 eight or ten eggs in each set, are laid by a female in June, July and 

 August. 



"Artificial incubation of terrapin eggs has heretofore been consid- 

 ered an impossibility. Every incubator is carefully marked with the 

 date when the eggs are expected to hatch. There are now 30 in- 

 cubators on the farm. Incubation in the hatcheries requires approxi- 

 mately 12 weeks' time which is about twice as long as would be 

 necessary under normal conditions." 



The incubator consists of shallow, wooden trays divided into com- 

 partments and filled with sand and humus in which the eggs are buried. 



Terrapin are hatched in the fall of the year and should be allowed 

 to stay in the sand. The mother terrapin never looks after her young. 



"Most of our young terrapin are placed in enclosed marshes and 

 allowed to grow and look after themselves. The age of a terrapin is 

 hard to guess. After they get to the size of 6^ inches they.are full 

 grown. The male terrapin only grows to be 4^ inches. " The enclosed 

 marshes are surrounded by wire netting and are guarded by paid keepers, 

 but as they are located some miles distant from the farm they were 

 not visited by the writer. 



"It is hard to believe that these ungainly creatures would exhibit 



