"OUT OF THE DEPTHS." 217 



long, scrawny, black legs, a short, pointed tail and a long, 

 thin neck with a slender head, terminating in a round, pro- 

 jecting snout, any thing but handsome to look at, and any 

 thing but comforting to feel! For this soft-shell turtle 

 is by no means the meek, unresisting creature that the go- 

 pher is, and when captured has a way of expressing his 

 opinion that is very apt to prove painful and lacerating to 

 one's feelings. 



In this respect our Florida soft-shell is quite the equal 

 of his cultivated Northern brother, the " snapper," and it 

 behooves his captors to watch sharply that their respective 

 positions are not reversed ; for the soft-shell not only snaps 

 with his horny, vise-like snout at any thing that comes 

 within reaching distance, but he stretches out his scrawny 

 neck, fixes his glittering little eyes upon you, and then, 

 bracing his hind legs, actually springs toward you, lunge- 

 ing again and again with a determination worthy of a 

 higher scale in creation ; and when he has given this little 

 game up as a "bad job," and has settled down resignedly, 

 it only needs a stick poked at him to rouse him up once 

 more to a series of leaps and springs rather astonishing in 

 a turtle. 



"Once upon a time," before we were so well versed in 

 the tortuous ways of this ungainly denizen of the lakes, 

 we picked up a small (two-pound) specimen that was wad- 

 dling along over plowed ground, seeking a place wherein 

 to deposit its eggs. 



We were delighted with our prize, the first of its kind, 

 and holding it out in front of us, a hand on either side, 

 hastened homeward. We hastened — yes, and a few steps 

 further we concluded, quite suddenly, to lay down our 

 prize. There was no hesitation about our movements ; our 

 resolution was quick but unfaltering, and in point of time 

 coincided with a vicious dart of the horny snout in the 



