THE SNAKE-XECKED TORTOISES. 255 



management to get them to land. When they leave the water they may be seen on the banks of 

 meadows, with the head, neck, and long tail extended, and after a short walk they fall 011 their 

 chest, as Alligators do. They are ferocious during captivity, and bite at everything. They are 

 excellent food, and are very widely distributed in nearly all parts of the United States. 



One of these aquatic Emydes attains a considerable size, and has a long neck and tail and 

 flat body. The snout is long, and there is a sharp beak on both jaws. Thei*e are armour plates on. 

 the head, and three strong ridges on the carapace. It is a very active swimmer, and preys upon, 

 small fish, and is called Temminck's Snapper.* 



The Large-headed Chinese River Tortoise, t with a long flat buckler and a very long tail, lives in 

 the swamps, marshes, and streams, and is sometimes sold in Canton. 



Its habits are probably those of the others of its group, and its powerful upper and lower beak 

 would enable it to catch and hold fish. The head is plated, the eye is large, the limbs are scaled, and 

 there is a long tail, which, when the animal is at rest, is curled up under the right margin of tha 

 carapace. Mr. Swinhoe kept one alive during the winter at Canton, but it did not eat any 

 food. 



The next division of the family Emydes is called the Chelodines, and contains kinds which cannot 

 withdraw the head ; the neck bends sideways, and is then stowed away under the overhanging carapace, 

 but not within the plastron. The carapace and plastron are united to the pelvis. Two or three of 

 the species may be noticed. One has been alluded to in describing the general anatomy of the 

 Chelonia as presenting many anomalous characters ; it is the Matamata (CJielys fonbriata), which 

 grows to a considerable size in Guiana and North Brazil, living in the stagnant pools near the Orinoco 

 and Amazon, or in still water, or in the swamps. It lives on fish and small water-birds, and 

 is a good and quick swimmer, and when it is quiet the peculiar barbules of its head attract fish, for 

 they are not indifferent imitations of worms when in slight movement. The head of this curious 

 animal is depressed, wide, and triangular in outline, and the nostrils are prolonged into a proboscis. 

 Its mouth opens wide, and the jaws are rounded. There are two barbules to the chin. The buckler 

 is very flat and bumpy, and the whole animal looks ragged and very peculiar. 



The Snake-necked Tortoises of Monte Video, Buenos Ayres, and Southern Brazil have a flat but 

 large buckler, a long neck, and pointed long head. In them the side to side movement of the neck is 

 admirably seen, and they bring their neck under the front of the carapace by carrying it sideways. 

 They belong to the genus Hydromedusa. 



A common kind of this family, which cannot therefore retract its head under the carapace, 

 lives in the streams, rivers, and wet lands of the region of the Orinoco, Amazon, and other northern 

 rivers of South America. It attains sometimes the length of thirty-two inches, and is an excellent 

 swimmer and catcher of small fish. They are extremely numerous in some places, and assemble in 

 crowds to sun themselves in the early part of the yeai*, on the warm sand near the rivers. A little 

 later they spend the day on the river banks, and in March they take to the river, and swim to the 

 islets to lay their eggs. A few days before the laying commences, these Large Greaved Tortoises^ line 

 the shallow water in great rows, their heads just appearing above the water. The eggs are large, 

 spherical, and white, and form an important part of the diet of the Indians. Large holes are made 

 by the animals, and sets of eggs are laid by different individuals in them. Bates, when at Ega, on the 

 Amazon, had, like the natives, to live for a considerable part of the year on this great fresh-water 

 Turtle, as it is often called. It was the only animal food, except fish, which was to be had ; and 

 although all the arts of the native cuisine were employed, he got thoroughly tired of it The Indians 

 make a little place close to their homes, where they keep a stock of these " Turtles." They are caught 

 with nets, and there is a great excitement during the hauling in ; moreover, they are often harpooned 

 in a clever manner. Bates describes the sand about a mile from the river as yielding up the newly- 

 hatched creatures, which, after boring their way out of the sand in which the eggs had been placed, 

 made their way in thousands, in a direct line, to their favourite element. The natives dry the eggs 

 of this " Aiyussa " Tortoise by placing them on boards, in the smoke of a fire. 



It is remarkable that this family should not only be represented in South America, but also in 

 Africa and Australia. 



* Macrodemmys temminckii. t Platysternon megacephalum. + Podocnemis expansa. 



