SNAPPING TURTLES: NUMBER OF SPECIES. 153 



39. THE SNAPPING TURTLES. 



NOETH American species.— The Snapping Turtles, or Ghelydridce, of the United States 

 are two in number, belonging to two different genera, Chelydra and Macrochelys. The more 

 northern species, Chelydra serpentina, known everywhere throughout the United States as the 

 "Snapping Turtle,"' is very widely distributed. It has been found as far north as Nova Scotia, 

 and its range extends from that point southward to Florida and the Gulf States, and westward to 

 the States immediately on the west bank of the Mississippi River. It has not been recorded 

 from farther west than the limits given, but it is probable that it occurs even as far as the Sierra 

 Nevadas. The southern species, Macrochelys lacertina, known as the "Alligator Turtle," or "Log- 

 gerhead,"* is found in western Georgia, and in all the States bordering on the Gulf, from Florida 

 to Texas. It also occurs in Missouri, where it is said to receive the name "Caouane." 



Size. — The northern species is considerably smaller than the southern ; twenty or thirty 

 pounds may be considered the maximum weight of the former, but the latter commonly attains a 

 weight of fifty or sixty pounds, and frequently as much as one hundred. In both the strength of 

 the jaws is very great. I have myself seen an "Alligator Snapper," of perhaps forty pounds 

 weight, bite the handle of a broom quite in two when enraged. 



Both species inhabit running streams and stagnant, mnddy ponds and lakes, but they 

 apparently prefer the latter.^ They are sometimes seen at a considerable distance from the 

 water, walking with a constrained and limping gait, very similar to that of the Alligator. At 

 such times they are probably in search of food or of a suitable place for the deposit of their eggs. 

 Their food consists of various animal matter, fishes, frogs, and shells, and lastly of ducks and 

 other water fowl, which they draw under water to be devoured at leisure. 



Breeding season and habits. — The breeding season of the Snapping Turtle is in June, 

 in the North from the 10th to the 25th ( Ghelydra serpentina). In preparing to deposit its eggs, it 

 "excavates at first directly downward, and then laterally, so that the widest part of the hole, in 

 which the eggs are deposited, is on one side of the external opening of the nest. Hence a stick 

 thrust straight into the mouth of the nest would not touch the eggs, which are laid in the lateral 

 dilation of the excavation. 



" The fact that these animals oftentimes dig several holes before selecting one for deposit, shows 

 that they exercise a discrimination with regard to the fitness or unfitness of these several spots for 

 the encouragement and rapid development of their young. When engaged in digging or laying, not- 

 withstanding their habitual shyness at other times, they seem utterly unconscious of any intruder, 

 but proceed in their occupation till it is finished, and then trampling down and smoothing over the 

 earth, so that when dry the place of the nest may not be noticeable, leave the spot and disappear 

 among their usual haunts."^ The place of deposit is usually at a short distance from the water 

 in a sandy bank. The number of eggs varies from twenty to forty, or even more. 



Regarding the breeding habits of the Alligator Turtle little is exactly known, but they are 

 probably similar to those of the Snapping Turtle. 



Economic value. — Both the Snapping Turtle and the Alligator Turtle are esteemed as food, 

 and are commonly eaten by the people in the localities where they occur. The former is generally 

 considered inferior to the Soft-shell Turtles, or the Green Turtle, while it is claimed by some, 

 although it seems liardly probable, that the flesh of the latter is even more delicate than that of 

 the Green Turtle. In old animals, at any rate, the smell of musk is very strong and disagreeable. 



'This is not to be confoanded with the marine Loggerhead. 



"During the summer of 1877 two specimens of Snapping Turtle were caught in the salt waters of Provincetowu 

 Bay, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 



'Agassiz • Contributions to the Natural History of the United States, ii, 1857, pp. 500, 501. 



