SIDE-NECKED TERRAPINS 



41 



a chronic fighter, and inasmuch as its jaws are very strong, 

 and, like some men, never know when to let go, it is a rep- 

 tile to be either mastered or avoided. It is wholly carnivo- 

 rous in its habits, and is very destructive to fish and young 

 water-fowl. Never place one in any pond or stream that is 

 intended to contain fish or young ducks. 



MATAMATA TERRAPIN. 



Strange to say, the Snapping Turtle is regularly consumed 

 as food, and is often sold in the Centre Market at Washington. 



THE SIDE-NECKED TERRAPINS 



Chelyidae 



THE MATAMATA TERRAPIN, 1 of the fresh-water streams 

 of Venezuela, the Guianas and Brazil, is quite as odd-look- 

 ing as our snapping terrapin. It has a flat shell studded 



1 Chel'ys fim-bri-ca'ta. 



