JONES ON REPTILIA OF NOVA SCOTIA. 117 



I am indebted to Dr. Gilpin for the following information 

 regarding this species : — " The snapping turtle is found in the larger 

 lakes of the colony, being aquatic in its habits. It has often been 

 observed beneath the ice during Avinter. It is occasionally taken 

 on land, while travelling from one lake to another, or when deposit- 

 ing its eggs. One caught in the latter position was about two feet 

 long, and boys of twelve years old easily rode on its back by stand- 

 ing on it. The shell scarcely encases the head, legs, and tail. The 

 tail has four or five sharp points on its upper side ; the under shell very 

 small, a mere breast plate. In 1833, while with some Indians in a 

 canoe on Lake Rosignol, we came upon a snapping turtle basking 

 on a log. With the greatest caution we floated with a light breeze 

 to within twenty yards of it, when, with a heavy splash it dis- 

 appeared. Marking the exact spot, in a moment the canoe was 

 swept over it, and an Indian held the turtle to the bottom of the 

 lake by pressing the paddle upon his back, while another Indian 

 drove a stake through its body and lifted the turtle into the canoe. 

 After decapitation the body crawled about for some twenty-four 

 hours or more, and the severed head snapped at wood, and held so 

 tight that force was used to disengage it. 



Genus — EMYS, Brong. 

 Emys picta — De Kay The Painted Tortoise. 



Testudo picta — Gm. Schneid, Schildk, p. 348. 



T. cinerea — Schcepff, Hist. Test., p. 23, pi. 4. 



Emys hellii — Gray, Synops., p. 12. 

 This pretty little tortoise is found in abundance about the small 

 lakes, ponds, and ditches of the colony, where a dozen may be seen 

 together basking on an old log, and when surprised going oif with 

 an awkward yet swift plunge. It may easily be kept in confine- 

 ment in a tub of water, and will, when domesticated, rise to the 

 surface, and take a worm from the hand. In such a position it 

 has been known to lay an e^^, which was hard and about an inch 

 and a half long. The young of this species, about the size of a 

 penny piece, may be seen in the lakes resting on the point of a 

 water lily leaf. 



