416 NATURAL HISTORY. 



This musky flavor of the alligator-turtle is not confined to that species. 

 It is even stronger in a much smaller species common in ponds all through 

 the eastern part of our country. Indeed, so strong is the odor that the 

 common name given it is musk-turtle, or stink-pot; and its scientific 

 name, Aromochelys odorata, repeats twice classical words for smell. 



The name gopher is indiscriminately applied to two very different 

 animals. One of these is a mammal allied to the rats, and will be 

 described and figured later in this volume ; the other is a turtle common 

 in the southern states, where it lives in large communities and digs bur- 

 rows much like those of its namesake of the prairies. Both are regarded 

 as pests. The turtle-gopher is a vegetarian. At night it leaves its burrow 

 and wanders to the plantations, where it commits sad havoc with the 

 plants, especially those of a soft or succulent nature. It will dig beneath 

 the soil to get at the sweet potatoes, while a melon-patch is as attractive 

 to it as it is to a negro. On account of its depredations war is waged 

 against it. The burrows are found, and in front of each a deep pit is 

 sunk. The gopher, on emerging, tumbles into this, and being unable to 

 climb up the steep sides, falls a victim to the negro when he makes his 

 rounds in the morning. 



A near relative of the gopher is the gigantic tortoise, which once was 

 very abundant in the Galapagos Islands. It has a large, high-arched shell, 

 and a neck of almost serpentine character. Specimens have been taken 

 with a total length of six feet and two inches, and a weight of six hundred 

 and forty-two pounds. The nearest relative of this giant is to be found in 

 Madagascar. It is almost equally large. Of late years both these species 

 have been greatly reduced in numbers, owing to the persecutions which 

 they have suffered. In former years they abounded upon the Galapagos 

 Islands, sometimes there being hundreds in sight at one time. It is a 

 curious fact that none of them occur on the adjacent shores of South 

 America, a few hundred miles away. 



The great river-turtle of the valley of the Amazon is a very important 

 form for the natives, as from it they derive a large proportion of their 

 meat as well as other means of subsistence. These turtles have their regular 

 migrations, going in the wet season to the pools and submerged forests of 

 the interior, and on the return of the dry season, making their way to the 

 main streams. In the pools the Indians capture them, either by nets or 

 by means of arrows, which in their structure are much like the harpoons 

 used by the Eskimo. They have a detachable iron head fastened by a 

 cord, some thirty or forty yards long, to the shaft. The turtle is shot witli 

 these arrows, the shaft drops out and floats on the surface, and then the 

 Indian in a canoe picks up the arrow and 'plays' the beast much as our 



