THE GEOGRAPHIC TURTLE. 
AP and mud-turtle (Walaco- 
M clemmys geographicus) are the 
more common names by which 
this animal is known; and as it 
is a characteristic species of the waters 
of Illinois and occurs in countless num- 
bers in lakes, rivers, and flood-ground 
pools, it may be assumed that most of 
our readers have met with it. It is 
exceedingly common in the Illinois 
and Mississippi rivers, where it is often 
confounded with quite another species. 
It is the only species seen by Mr. F. 
M. Woodruff on the shores of Lake 
Michigan, whence he has frequently 
chased it to the water and caught it in 
his hands. It is timid and inoffensive 
in disposition, always sliding from 
bank or log when approached, and 
even when captured shows none of the 
ferocity of the snapper. The great 
strength of its jaws, unsurpassed in 
massiveness by any of our turtles, 
would enable it to inflict serious 
wounds, and it is not a little surprising 
to find such efficient weapons of offense 
unaccompanied by special ruggedness 
of temper. Our streams and lakes, 
with their numerous sandy shores, and 
their abundance of animal and vegetable 
life, would seem to form an ideal hab- 
itat for these reptiles. Their food con- 
sists ordinarily of fishes, frogs, and 
mollusks, crayfishes, aquatic insects, 
and vegetation. They trouble fisher- 
men at times by devouring fishes which 
they have caught on trot-lines or in 
set nets. They are not rapid swim- 
mers. An animal once within reach of 
their jaws must be very quick to escape 
capture. The eggs are white and are 
provided with a rather tough shell. 
They bury their eggs in sand on the 
shore and leave them to hatch by the 
sun’s heat. 
A gentleman who had a pet turtle 
which he kept in a tank tells some in- 
teresting things about its appetite. 
During the early spring he fed him on 
62 
bits of meat, either raw or cooked. 
Having no teeth, he swallowed these 
whole, gulping them down with large 
quantities of water. Outside of his 
tank he would carry food in his mouth 
for hours at a time, but apparently 
was unable to swallow it with his 
head out of water. He always aimed 
well, and snapped up bits of meat as 
carefully and as quickly as if they had 
been bits of life that might escape him. 
hen a morsel was too large to be 
swallowed whole, he held it down firmly 
with his fore feet and pulled bits off 
with his mouth. His owner once gave 
him a fish so large that it took him three 
hours to eat it, and in all that time he 
never removed his foot. Rival turtles 
and swift currents had probably taught 
him this bit of discretion in the days 
of his freedom: “One* time he put 
twenty small fish averaging three 
inches in length into his tank, thinking 
this would be a treat for him and 
would save the trouble of feeding him 
for some time. A treat he evidently 
considered it, for within half an hour 
he had disposed of the entire lot. 
This excited the admiration of the 
gentleman’s boy friends, and the next 
day they brought in sixty small fish. 
At the end of the second day the 
turtle looked about with an Oliver 
Twist-like air, which plainly called for 
more. When there was any percep- 
tible difference in the size of the fish it 
always ate the largest one first. It ate 
grasshoppers and dragon-flies, tadpoles, 
and little frogs—animal food of any 
kind. It would eat eggs as readily as 
meat. This voracity of appetite ac- 
counts for much of the destruction of 
young fish life in our lakes and streams, 
where these turtles are extremely 
abundant. 
In the Philippines, it is said, there 
-ives a turtle that climbs trees. The 
feet are strongly webbed, and each has 
three sharp claws. 
