THE SALT-WATER TERRAPIN. 



11 



The Salt-water Terrapin is a well-known species, living in North and South America, 

 where it is in great request for the table. 



The generic name of Malaclemys, or Soft Terrapin, has been given to this species on account 

 of the formation of the head, which is covered with soft, spongy skin. The head is large in 

 proportion to the size of the animal, and flattened above. 



This Terrapin lives in the salt-w\iter marshes, where it is very plentiful, and from which 

 it never tmvels to any great distance. During the warm months of the year it is lively, and 

 constantly searching after prey, but when the cold weather comes on, it burrows a hole in the 

 muddy banks of its native marsh, and there lies buried until the warm sunbeams of spring 

 break its slumbers, and induce it once more to seek the upper earth and resume its former 

 active existence. 



QUAKER lOKiOlSE—Emye Mvacea. 



It is more active in its movements than is the case with the Tortoises in general, and can 

 not only swim rapidly, but walk with tolerable speed. It is very shy, and discovers approach- 

 ing peril with a keenness of perception that could scarcely be expected from one of these 

 shielded reptiles, whose dullness and torpidity have long been proverbial. 



Mr. Holbrook, in his valuable " North American Herpetology," writes as follows concern- 

 ing this TeiTapia : — 



"They are very abundant in the salt marshes around Charleston, and are easily taken 

 when the female is about to deposit her eggs in the spring and early summer months. They 

 are then brought in immense numbers to market ; yet, notwithstanding this great destruction, 

 they are so prolific that their number appears undiminished. Their flesh is excellent at all 

 times, but in the northern cities it is most esteemed when the animal has been dug out of the 

 mud in its state of hibernation. The males are smaller than the females, and have the con- 

 centric striae more deeply impressed." 



The color of this Salt-water Terrapin is rather variable, but is usually dark greenish-brown 

 on the upper surface, and yellow on the plates which surround the edge of the shell. Below 

 it is yellow, and in many specimens it is marked with variously shaped spots of dark gray. 

 The lower jaw is furnished with a hook, and the sides of the head are dusty white sprinkled 

 with many small black spots. 



