TERRAPINS. 



73 



uniform blackish. The plastron is yellowish or reddish, with variable black 

 markings. 



It is this species that generally forms the celebrated New York dish known as 

 terrapin ; but it would seem that other species are also used, as the following account 

 refers to terrapins taken high up the rivers. The best terrapins go by the name of 

 "diamond-backs," and do not generally exceed some 7 inches in length, although they 

 may rarely measure as much as 10 inches, but all terrapin of larger dimensions 

 belong to the inferior kinds, ordinarily designated " sliders." According to Mr. W. 

 M. Laffan, " terrapin are caught all the way from Savannah and Charleston to the 

 Patapsio River at Baltimore, but the genuine diamond-back belongs only to the 

 Upper Chesapeake and its tributaries. The majority of the sliders are brought to 

 Baltimore from the James River. The terrapin-catchers make from five to twenty 

 dollars per week, and they find the reptile, Or ' bird,' as the bon vivant calls it, by 

 probing the mud in the shallows with sticks. The terrapin is dormant, and when 

 found is easily secured. A 4 -lb. terrapin taken about September 15th will 

 exist prosperously in a dark, cool place, without food or drink, until April 15th, 

 and (the dealers say) will gain two ounces in weight. After that time it gets 

 lively and active, and will take hold of a finger with great effusion and effective- 

 ness. The male terrapin is known as a ' bull,' and the female as a ' cow.' The 

 latter is much more highly prized, and generally contains about thirty eggs. 

 No dish of terrapin is thought complete without being garnished with these." 

 Formerly caught in shoals, the diamond-back has now become very scarce, and is, 

 indeed, in some danger of extermination. The terrapin furnished in hotels is 

 almost invariably " sliders," diamond-backs being sold to private houses only. 



Painted The seven remaining genera of the family constitute a distinct 



Terrapin. group, distinguished from the one including the six genera just men- 

 tioned by the circumstance that the broad front portion of the palate of the skull is 

 marked by one or two longi- 

 tudinal ridges, and likewise by 

 all the species being mainly or 

 exclusively herbivorous in their 

 diet. Among these, the large 

 and exclusively American genus 

 Chrysemys, with, a dozen species, 

 of which the painted terrapin 

 (C. picta) is one of the best 

 known, belongs to a subgroup 

 of three genera, characterised 

 by the bony buttresses con- 

 necting the upper with the 

 lower shell being short or of 

 moderate size. From its allies 

 Chrys&mys is distinguished by 

 the opening of the posterior 



nostrils being situated between the eyes, and by the entoplastral bone being 

 situated in advance of the groove on the plastron formed by the junction of the 



PAINTF.D TEKRAH>'. 



