Marine and Fresh-water Animals in Japan 525 





From U. S. Bureau of Fisheries 



from u. b. isure, 



Second-year Young of Snapping Turtle (Trionyx). Reduced ^ 



Hiroshima and the algse culture of 

 Tokyo Bay are well-known industries 

 which have been carried on for hundreds 

 of years. 



TERRAPIN FARMS 



The place occupied among gastronom- 

 ical delicacies by the diamond-back terra- 

 pin in America and by the green turtle 

 in England is taken by the "suppon," or 

 the snapping turtle, in Japan. The three 

 are equally esteemed and equaHy high 

 priced, but the Japanese epicure has this 

 advantage over his brothers of other 

 lands — he has no longer any fear of hav- 

 ing the supply of the luscious reptile ex- 

 hausted. This desirable condition is 

 owing to the successful efforts of a Mr 



Hattori, who has spared no pains to 

 bring his turtle farms to a high pitch of 

 perfection, and is able to turn out tens of 

 thousands of these reptiles every year. 

 His are, so far as I am aware, the only 

 turtle farms in the world which are 

 highly successful. 



In general appearance a turtle farm is 

 at a first glance nothing but a number of 

 rectangular ponds, large and small, the 

 large ones having a size of 15,000 to 

 20,000 square feet. One or more of the 

 ponds is always reserved for large breed- 

 ing individuals, or "parents," as they are 

 called. 



In Hattori's farm a person goes around 

 the "parents' pond" once a day or so and 

 covers up with wire baskets all the new 



