THE MAT AM ATA. 



17 



Thougli a very valuable and curious reptile, the Alligator Terrapin is far from beautiful, 

 with its little dusky shell, its long, knob-covered tail, its singular legs and feet, and its great, 

 sharply-toothed jaws. On account of its habit of snapping fiercely at its opponents, it is often 

 called by the name of Snapping Turtle, a title, however, which rightly belongs to a species 

 which will shortly be described. 



Its head is large, and covered with a hard, -wrinlded skin ; the neck is long, thick, and 

 furnished ^vith a number of projecting tubercles. Under the chin are two distinct barbels. 

 When adult, the shell is so formed that a depression runs along the centre, leaving a kind of 

 keel at each side of the central line ; but when young, the shell forms three distinct keels. It 

 is rather flat, oblong, and at the hinder portion is deeply cleft, so as to form a row of blunt 

 teeth, but wliile young the teeth are sharp. The tail is stout, long, and is furnished with a 

 series of large, blunt tubercles along its central line. 



The Snapping Turtle is the familiar name of this species in the coimtryside of New 

 England. It is rather common in all parts of North America, and is found soutliward as far 

 as Ecuador. Dr. Pickering, of Eastern Massachusetts, records the length of one as " over four 

 feet ; " the shell being only about half that in length. This exposure of so large a proportion 

 of its fleshy parts is scarcely paralleled in any other, species. Its stout and long tail, and its 

 long neck quite warrant the use of a Southern designation it has — Alligator Tortoise. The 

 savage, snapping habit gives it the common Northern name. The term Alligator Terrapin 

 seems very appropriate, as the Terrapins all have the corrugated backs. In some quarters 

 the flesh is esteemed. 



MATAMATA.— Cfeiy* matamata. 



We now arrive at another family of Tortoises, termed Chelydes, an example of which is 

 the remarkable Matamata, the acknowledge type of its family. 



All the Chelydes have broad, flattened heads, long, broad, contractile necks, and when in 

 repose have a curious custom of bending their necks under the side of the carapace. Their 

 feet are webbed, in order to enable them to pass rapidly through the water, and there is always 



Vol. ra.-3. 



