SHORT STUDIES OF TURTLES. 267 



it greedily. Even when snappers set them the example, 

 they seemed willing to remain hungry rather than seize a 

 fish while yet a spark of life remained. "When, however, 

 a dead fish was placed before several of these mud-tur- 

 tles in a small aquarium, their mental powers were read- 

 ily brought into play ; and each turtle, in the endeavor 

 to appropriate the entire fish to itself, would bid defiance 

 to its neighbors. In one instance, the largest turtle cov- 

 ered the fish with its shell and endeavored to keep the 

 others off, while, at the same time, it tried to get an 

 occasional bite at the jealously-guarded tidbit. In this 

 manoeuvre it was not successful ; and it was quite evident, 

 from the free fight that ensued, that their distant kinship 

 to man is no theory, but a demonstrable fact, if their ex- 

 hibition of anger and the very human-like way in which 

 they fought has any bearing on the question. If, how- 

 ever, there is nothing for them to quarrel about, they are 

 as peaceful as lambs. 



When it is said of the musk-turtle that it is not so 

 strictly a mud-loving species as the foregoing, and that 

 it is almost as active by day as by night, we have about 

 covered the ground, so far as its habits are known. In all 

 respects, it is like the other water-turtles as they appear 

 to the casual observer. There are some points of inter- 

 est connected with it, however, which may properly be 

 noted. According to Professor Agassiz, with the excep- 

 tion of the snapper, none of the turtles that I have men- 

 tioned catch active prey, or are in any way ferocious ; 

 they are, indeed, entirely harmless, and " only when hard 

 pressed, defend themselves by biting. Their food is both 

 vegetable and animal ; the latter they tear with their 

 jaws, holding it down when necessary with their fore- 

 feet." Another exception to this generalization is that 



