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Family Chelydridse. Snapping Turtles. 



The shell is higher in front, sloping backwards, so that 

 the body is heavy in front ; head and neck large and very 

 projectile, the snout pointed, jaws hooked ; tail long, com- 

 pressed, with a horny crest, alligator-like. The plastron 

 is small and cross-shaped, composed of nine bones, leaving 

 the limbs largely uncovered, even when drawn close to the 

 body. 



Chelydra serpentina (L.). 



Common Snapping Turtle. 



This is perhaps the most widely known of all our turtles 

 and grows to a size of two feet or over. General color 

 dusky brown or blackish, sometimes blotched, head with 

 dark spots. The iris grayish yellow, with darker lines 

 radiating from the pupil. When old the back is often 

 partly overgrown with algae (confervae), giving it the ap- 

 pearance of a moss-grown stone or piece of tree bark. 

 Smell very musky. The young are much keeled and look 

 like water-soaked walnuts. A very common animal, 

 ranging from Canada to Ecuador, but in the United States 

 not west of the Rocky Mountains. 



It prefers soft-bottomed waters, or sloughs, where it lies 

 in the mud, only the nose protruding, awaiting prey, which 

 consists of every thing of an animal nature within reach. 

 The jaws are very strong and capable of dangerous bites. 

 A severed head will not let go its grip for a long while. 

 Said to grow to a weight of over forty pounds. The meat 

 is edible unless the animal is too old. Very hardy in cap- 

 tivity, but dangerous to most all of its fellow captives. It 

 is extremely voracious, and is said to draw ducks and geese 

 under water to devour them at leisure. 



About the middle of June in this vicinity the snapping 

 turtle lays from twenty to forty eggs, often quite away 

 from the water. 



