21^ REPTILES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



This species has a very disgusting odor, and is hence some- 

 times called stink-pot. 



It is found burying itself in the mud in ditches and small 

 ponds, frequently covered with a thick coat of foreign matter, 

 from which circumstance it has received the common name of 

 mud tortoise. 



A single specimen of this species was found in Fresh Pond 

 in Cambridge by J. W. Randall, M. D. ; one specimen was 

 taken at Amherst, and several at Falmouth by Professor C. B. 

 Adams ; and Mr. Erastus H. Clap has brought me one from 

 Walpole. 



Emysaurus. Dumeril. 



Generic characters. Head large, covered with small plates ; 

 snout short ; jaws hooked ; tioo loarts beneath the chin ; ster- 

 num imTROvcahle, cruciform, coTnfosed of ten plates ; three 

 sterno-costal plates ; fore feet with five claws, hind feet with 

 four ; tail long, surmounted ivith a scaly crest. 



E. serpentina. Lin. The snake Tortoise. 



Shaw's Zoology, vol. iii. pt. ]. p. 72, etfig. 



Ann. Lye. N. Y. vol. iii. p. 128. 



Dum. et Bibi-. Hist. Nat. des Rept. vol. ii. p. 350. 



This is the largest tortoise found within the borders of our 

 State ; sometimes weighing from 15 to 20 pounds. It is ex- 

 ceedingly powerful and voracious, feeding upon fishes and 

 frogs ; and the farmers sometimes complain of its depredations 

 among their chickens and ducklings. From its habit of snap- 

 ping suddenly at almost every thing offered it, it is generally 

 known by the name of the " snapping tortoise,'''' in New Eng- 

 land, while its crested tail, resembling the Crocodilus hicius, gives 

 it the distinction at the South, of ^' alligator tortoise." It is 

 usually found in filthy water, and is occasionally met with at 

 considerable distance from any pond or pool, dragging itself 

 leisurely along. 



