The Terkapess.- 



-REPTILES.- 



TiiE Salt-watek Teueapen. 



71 



divided, the two which compose the Pond or Marsh 

 tortoises are the most numerous in species. Speci- 

 mens are found in both the Old and New Worlds, and 

 Australia. America, which produces only two species 

 of Laud tortoises, contains more of these Pond species 

 than all the other parts of the globe united. Thus, out 

 of one hundred and thirteen specimens enumerated by 

 Dr. Gray in 1855 as belonging to these two families, 

 sixty-eight were exclusively American ; the remaining 

 forty-five being divided between the various parts of 

 the Old World and Australia. The cause of this is no 

 doubt the configuration of the American continent, 

 with the immense quantity of water, in the form of 

 lakes, marshes, and ponds, which covers a certain por- 

 tion of its surface, as well as the large rivers and tri- 

 butary streams which traverse it in all directions. 



THE TERRAPENS [Emydidce). 



The Terrapens are not only characterized by their 

 being able to retract completely, within the shell, their 

 long, cylindrical neck, with its lax and sheathing skin ; 

 they are, moreover, distinguished by their head being 

 nearly as thick as it is broad near the occiput ; their 

 eyes being always placed laterally on the sides of the 

 face, and the orbit being so large that this cavity occu- 

 pies nearly the fourth part of the total extent of the 

 cranium. The jaws are very strong, with a naked, 

 horny beak ; sometimes simply cutting, at others more 

 or less dentated. The tip of the beak of the upper 

 jaw is notched in most of the species, and on each side 

 of the notch there is a pretty strong tooth, and gene- 

 rally the corresponding extremity of the mandible is 

 curved in a sharp point towards the muzzle. In some 

 instances the upper beak resembles very much in form 

 that of certain birds of prey, such as the falcons. The 

 toes are generally webbed nearly to the claws. The 

 bones of the pelcis or basin are articulated with the 

 internal face of the carapace by a caitilaginous sym- 

 phisis corresponding with what is known in other ani- 

 mals as the OS sacrum, and is quite free on the side of 

 the breastplate. This allows several of these Terrapens 

 to move slightly that part of their long shell. 



The great bulk of the species of Terrapens, how- 

 ever, are contained in the genus EjiYs, and are chiefly 

 natives of Asia and America. 



THE CASPIAN EMYS {Emys Caspica), a small tor- 

 toise about six or seven inches long, is the only species 

 found in Europe. 



THE PAINTED TERRAPEN [Emys picta, the Chry- 

 semis 2>icta of Gray) is [lerhaps the most beautiful, as it 

 is certainly one of the most common and best marked 

 species of the genus. It is a native of America, and 

 has a wide range of habitat, for it extends along the 

 Atlantic border from Maine to Georgia. This animal 

 may be readily distinguished, saj's Mr. Holbrook, from 

 all others of the genus by the beautiful colours and 

 markings of the shell. In general it is of a very dark 

 brown, approaching to a dark olive, with yellow lines, 

 which in old animals are of a fawn colour, but in the 

 young are so bright, especially when seen under water, 

 as to resemble golden bands. The marginal plates are 

 all marked with a bright rod spot in the centre, which 



is surrounded by concentric lines of the same colour, 

 and at times their upper surface appears clouded with 

 red, resembling the mineral called blood-stone. The 

 sternum is entirely yellow, except at the wings, where 

 it is somewhat dusky. The head above and the jaws 

 are dark, almost black, with several small yellow Hues 

 running along them. The neck itself above, as well 

 as the throat, are black, marked with longitudinal lines 

 of orange and red. The anterior extremities are black, 

 with one or two red lines in front, while the posterior 

 surface is mottled with orange or red. The posterior 

 extremities are black, both above and below, but the 

 dark colour is relieved by orange lines. The tail is 

 dark above, and mottled at its base with red spots. 

 These colours, however, vary greatly in degree ; they 

 are always brightest in the young. This species is 

 not a large one, the shell in an adult specimen being 

 about six and a half inches long, and four and a half 

 broad. It is of a suboval or oblong shape, with a small 

 head, rounded in front. The upper jaw is notched 

 anteriorly, and the lower is slightly hooked or turned 

 upwards in frout. The eyes are large and brilliant, 

 the pupil being black and the iris golden, with a black 

 band passing through it horizontally. 



The Painted Terrapeu frequents ditches, ponds, and 

 pools, and abounds in rivers where the waters are slug- 

 gish. It spends almost the whole day, according to 

 Mr. Holbrook, basking in the sun on the banks of 

 rivers, or upon fallen trees or logs. It is very timid, 

 and makes a very rapid retreat when disturbed. It 

 retires early to its winter quarters, and is the first to 

 be seen in spring. It feeds upon insects, tadpoles, 

 young frogs, earthworms, &c. It takes the hook 

 readily, and is on that account very troublesome to 

 anglers. Its flesh is used occasionally as food, but it 

 is not much esteemed. 



THE HICOTEE {Emys dccussata) is a native of the 

 West Indian islands, and is about ten or eleven inches 

 long. The shell is oblong, bluntly keeled, the hinder 

 edge slighl^ly toothed. The shields of the carapace are 

 a little wrinkled, irregularly radiately grooved, and of 

 a uniform pale-brown colour ; but the animal itself is 

 green. Dampier mentions this species in his " Voyages." 

 " Two sorts of tortoise or turtle," he says, " are found 

 in the West Indies. One is called by the Spaniards 

 Hecaiee. Another sort is called the Tcrrapen. Both 

 these sorts are very good meat. They are in great 

 plenty on the Isle of Pines, near Cuba : these the 

 Spanish hunters, when they meet them in the woods, 

 bring home to their huts and mark them by notching 

 their shells, then let them go. When these hunters 

 return to Cuba, after about a month or six weeks' stay, 

 they carry with them three or four hundred or more of 

 these creatures to sell, for they are very good meat, 

 and every man knows his own by their marks." 



THE SALT-WATER TERRAPEN {Malackmys con- 

 ccHtrica). — Tlie species of Terrapens wc have already 

 mentioned have the head covered with a thin hard 

 skin, and arc purely fresh-water tortoises. There is 

 a species, however, that has the head covered with a 

 soft, spongy skin, and the habit of the animal is to live 

 in salt water marshes. This is the Salt-water Terra- 

 pen. The shell is seven and a half niches long, and 



