
258 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
CORRESPONDENCE, 
To the Editor of the American Naturalist : 
SIR : — In that very interesting and not unimportant book Memoirs 
of Odd Adventures, Strange Deliverances, etc., in the Captivity of John 
Giles, Esq. . . . written by himself, describing his captivity among the 
Indians of New Brunswick in 1689-98, occur many quaint but truth- 
ful remarks upon the habits of common animals. But among the 
others occurs this: | 
Of the Tortoise. lt is needless to describe the fresh-water tortoise, 
whose form is so well known in all parts: but their manner of propagating 
their species is not so universally known. I have observed that sort of 
tortoise whose shell is about fourteen or sixteen inches wide. In their 
coition they may be heard half a mile, making a noise like a woman wash- 
ing her linen with a batting staff. They lay their eggs in the sand, etc. 
I have asked several students of these animals for information 
about the noise here mentioned, but none of them seem to know it. 
Giles (or more properly Gyles) is usually so accurate in his observa- 
tions that I can hardly believe he was wholly mistaken in this case. 
Can any of the readers of the American Naturalist throw any light 
upon the subject? 
The immediate reason for my interest in the matter is an inquiry 
from my friend Mr. Victor H. Paltsits, of the Lenox Library, New 
York City, who is editing and exhaustively annotating a new edition 
of Gyles's Memoirs, soon to be published by Dodd, Mead and Co. 
of New York. W. F. GANONG. 
SMITH COLLEGE, NORTHAMPTON, Mass. 
(No. 422 was mailed February 13.) 
