20 THE DOC A MA. 



dragged from the water, seems possessed witli tenfold ferocity, writhing its long, flexible neck, 

 darting its head furiously at its foes with the rapidity of a serpent's stroke, and snapping 

 sharply with its formidable jaws, one bite of which would shied away the fingers from the 

 hand, or the toes from the feet, us easily as the gardener's scissors sever the twigs and leaves. 

 Such a misfortune has indeed been known to occur. Mr. Bell records an instance where a 

 Snapping Turtle, that was being conveyed to England, contrived to reach the hand of one of 

 the sailors in its fierce struggles, and bit off one of his fingers. 



The eggs of the Snapping Turtle are very spherical in form, and brittle of substance. The 

 female lays a large number of these eggs, from fifty to sixty being the usual average, and 

 always deposits them in some dry situation. In order to find a suitable spot for the deposition 

 of her eggs, the female leaves the water, and is often forced to traverse a considerable distance 

 before she can find a spot sufficiently dry for her purpose. Sometimes she will even ascend a 

 very steep acclivity in her anxiety to find a locality that is quite dry, covered with sandy soil, 

 and exposed to the full rays of the sun. She begins her task about May, and the little Tor- 

 toises are hatched in July. 



The following curious account of the tenacity of life possessed by these creatures has been 

 kindly forwarded to me : — 



"As regards the tenacity of life of the Snapping Turtle, and the sympathy (rapport) 

 which seems to exist between its severed limbs and main trunk, for some time after the separa- 

 tion has taken place, I witnessed a very curious incident when staying at a farm in Massa- 

 chusetts. 



" When I had brought the animal home, suspended by its tail, I killed it by chopping its 

 head off, yet the head would open and shut the mouth, and roll its eyes. When I held a stick 

 between the open jaws it closed them with violence, and kept hold of it. Meanwhile the 

 headless body was crawling on the ground. 



"About a quarter of an hour after having severed the head from the body, my mother 

 had got boiling water, which I threw over the body, placed in a tub, in order to make the 

 horny matter separate from the flesh ; the moment this was done the back heaved and the 

 sides were puffed out as if wind were blown between the skin and flesh, and instantaneously 

 the head, which lay about three or four feet from the tub, on the ground, opened its mouth 

 with a slight hissing sound, let go its hold on the stick, and the part of the neck adhering 

 to the head expanded, as if also wind was blown into it, and both body and head lay motion- 

 less and dead. After having taken out thirty-four eggs, I took out the heart, which, strange 

 to say, was still throbbing with life, contracting and expanding. I put it upon a plate, where 

 it kept on beating until about noon the following day.'' 



In this species, the front edge of the carapace is furnished with a great number of tooth- 

 like points, all radiating from the shell. These teeth, or tubercles, distinguish it from two 

 other American species, appropriately termed the Unarmed Trionyx ( Trioiiyx muticus i, and the 

 Mississippi Snapper (Macrochelys lacertina). This species is common in the Gulf States, and 

 as far north as Illinois. It is regarded as one of the strongest and most ferocious of reptiles. 



Holbrook records a Turtle under the nameof Temminck's Snapper (Cliduiatra temmincki). 



Before taking leave of the Soft Turtles, we must cast a casual glance at two rather 

 curious species. The one is the Tykse ( Tyrse, or Trionyx nllolii-iin), a native of Africa, as its 

 name imports. This animal is found in the Nile, and other African rivers, and is a good repre- 

 sentation of the American reptile, being very tierce, strong and voracious, and said to devour 

 the young crocodiles, just as the snapping turtle eats young alligators. The shell of the 

 Tyrse is rather convex, but often is flattened along the line of the vertebra 3 , and its back 

 is olive-green spotted with yellow 7 or white. 



The other species is the Doc am a (Dogan/'a subplanus, or Trionyx siibplanus). This 

 curious-looking reptile is an Asiatic species, and is found in India. Its neck seems pre- 

 ternaturally long, and supports a very large head, broad behind, and produced into a 

 conical muzzle in front. The shell is rather oval, much flattened, and quite conceals the 

 conical tail. Its color is brown, mottled largely with yellow; the head is also yellow 



