SIDE-NECKED TERRAPINS 



41 



a chronic fighter, and inasmuch as its jaws are very strong, — 

 and, hke some men, never know when to let go, — it is a rep- 

 tile to be either mastered or avoided. It is wholly carnivo- 

 rous in its habits, and is very destructive to fish and young 

 water-fowl. Never place one in any pond or stream that is 

 intended to contain fish or young ducks. 



mata;mata terrapin. 



Strange to say, the Snapping Turtle is regularly consumed 

 as food, and is often sold in the Centre Market at Washington. 



TEE SIDE-NECKED TERRAPINS 



Chelyidae 



The Matamata Terrapin,i ^f the fresh-water streams 

 of Venezuela, the Guianas and Brazil, is quite as odd-look- 

 ing as our snapping terrapin. It has a flat shell studded 



1 Chel'ys fim-bri-ca'ta. 



