. Feb. jg, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
151 
taking care of themselves seems assured, and at a trifling 
cost after onde hatclied. 
The statistics in regard to this branch of oiir fisheries 
are meager and of little vattie. The few at hand seem 
to show thjit the average catch of mature turtles along 
the reef by nets in the past twenty yeats appears to be 
but slightly diminished. When the fleet is augmented hy 
boats and men, the catch per boat decreases, and vice 
versa; but it is very evident, from personal observation 
covering the same period, that our feeding grounds or 
inshore resorts for the smaller and more valuable sizes 
have become ahnost depleted, a result occasioned, ap- 
parently, not by excessive fishing, but more likely by 
the gradual capture of the females on the outer grounds, 
who occasionally depart from the instinct of going to 
foreign parts for incubation, and lay their eggs on home 
shores, as it is hardly possible that the young from the 
distant hatcheries across the Gulf Stream should find 
their way back until fully matured and able to cope with 
their natural enemies in transit. For verification of 
some mooted qitestions, and additional information on 
others, I am indebted to Mr. B. Vincent Archer, a life- 
long fisher and close observer of tlie green turtle in 
these waters. 
The Diamond-Back Terrapin. 
The naturalists usually call our friend offering text for 
this paper Emys malncoclenwiys palustris, meaning that 
he is a soft-shelled terrapin which affects living in 
marshes. The gourmet has translated the other name 
for him, Emys concentrica, into that toothsome phrase 
diamond-back terrapin, suggested by the markings on 
the upper shell. 
How to cook him in the best way — ^bcst Maryland way, 
or in that other notable way, Philadelphia way — T shall 
later divulge. Just now I will point out three American 
species of the Emys inalacoclenunys, or soft-shell terrapin; 
then show how to catch him; and then how to conk him. 
Anybody can then eat a dainty dish who will. 
Birstly, then, the three species of Emys malacockmmys 
inhabiting the United States and South America, and 
perhaps Italy, where Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of 
Canino. ma3' have succeeded in propagating them some 
thirty years ago, are the Malacoclemmys palustris, the 
Malacockmmys geographica, and the Malacockmmys lesueri. 
Of these the second and third are of slight edible value 
and are little used. But the first kind, the diamond- 
back, he is good to eat. 
His alveolar surface is broad and nearly flat, slightly 
concave, occupies most of the length of the upper jaw, 
wherein it differs from the jaws of the other American 
terrapin, and so largely explains the superiority of its 
flesh; which is to say it can and does live upon superior 
food. Our friend likes nice fresh fish, and crabs, and 
celery, and -such like dainties as he can find by quick 
swimming or walking round about his dearly loved 
salt marshes. The others are not very particular, and 
even our friend's first cousins, the Emys malacockmmys 
geographica and the Emys malacockmmys lesueri, are rather 
too careless and reptilian in their banqueting to commend 
their choice or to acquire a high gamy ilavor. 
.Something of the clean salt of the salt water our 
friend loves, and of those salt marshes whence he sel- 
dom travels far, and in whose shallow, slightly water- 
covered mud he always hibernates a few inches from the 
surface, from middle autumn till middle spring, enter into 
liim. 
Round about such localities from Nantucket and New 
Bedford, Mass.. to far away Texas is he foimd by ter- 
rapin hunters, but chiefly and in greater perfection in 
the beautiful Chesapeake Bay and in the Carolina 
sounds. 
Diamond-back terrapins were once very numerous, 
but alas! pot-hunters have slain their thousands and tens 
of thousands. Unless the law shall soon enter and save 
the places that knew them shall soon know them no 
more. Bare will be the bars and flats or old logs on 
which in great numbers on bright days they used to 
sun themselves, Snd empty of them will be the waters 
whose surface their heads closely dotted, while they 
breathed quietly, easily afloat, for our terrapin's specific 
gravity is almost precisely that of water, and one more 
complaint will be added to the grievances of many "old 
Ixjys'' who have been known to sit sunning themselves 
in club windows, the while remarking, "That monstrotis 
little rain water Madeira remains." 
Now the diamond-back varies much in external ap- 
l)earance. The females are largest, much more delicate 
in flavor, and their eggs are — shall we say — delicious. 
Such a, terrapin is naturallj' much the costliest. A ter- 
rapin 6in. long on the under shell is called a "count," 
■A female less than 5in. long similarly measured is a 
"heifer," and such another male is a little "bull." Some- 
times terrapins grow to be coin. long. Ordinarily they 
weigh about 541bs. to the inch length. It seems to be 
conceded that the terrapin first lays eggs when about 
six years old. Seeking in spring a sunny sandy spot, 
preferably very near the water, and scratching a shallow 
hole with her hindlegs, she deposits five to seven eggs, 
which she carefully covers over, patting the sand smooth 
and firm above them. The warm sun must do the rest. 
And before the heat of summer is over the little terrapin 
about an inch in length has been evolved, the round, 
yellowish white egg elongating with his length. With 
his horny snout he breaks loose the egg skin within 
which for, say, eight weeks he has found his food. He 
and his little "bull" brothers and "heifer" sisters now 
generally wait beneath their sheltering sand covering, 
which has grown more convex and loose with their wax- 
ing size, until a wave shall come and uncover them, 
when, like Jason's men, full armed, they spring to sight 
and toward the water — and the gourmet's plate. But 
with no haste do they fall into either. Sometimes it 
is several days before these youngsters swim into the 
water, and as their normal growth is an inch each year 
it should be four full years at least before any of them 
die for another's good. However, there are stories of 
A^ery much quicker forced growth. One experimenter 
specifically informed me that taking a terrapin just 
hatched in early spring he placed it in a salt-water pen 
just outside his kitchen window, whence scraps of fish, 
crabs, or any meat or vegetables the cook discarded 
were flung to it. Within a year the terrapin had grown 
to a greater length than 7in..! This is coming it strong, 
yet T state but the facts as told rne. But I must be per- 
mitted to state my great regret that a letter seeking 
written confirmation of this sea tale has failed of answer 
from my informant. Captain Lewis, of Lewisetta, Va. 
To catch the terrapin there are many ways and very 
nianv men, women and boys. For instance, there is 
the hunter and hi.s dog. They patrol the marsh beach 
at low tide during the laying season and trail the terra- 
pin to her nest. Then during the winter time sharp 
eyes discern beneath the shallow water the little mound 
above the hibernating animal, and lo! another benumbed 
terrapin, caught by oyster tongs or what you will, shall 
come to town. During the summer days the dip net may 
catch the terrapin, inquisitive, though timid, who, hear- 
ing knocking on a boat above him, rises to "inquire,'* 
while the same game is played on \\\m by torchlight by 
night, and he is crowded in to join the procession 
toward an early grave. But all these methods are child's 
play compared with those fateful ones of dredging, or 
of netting in one of its two great methods. To save for 
the last the worst, consider now the two chief ways of 
netting. Driving down a stake, to which one end of 
a long net is tied, the other end of the net weighted 
on its lower side is drawn circularly and in narrowing cir- 
cles by a boat through the water above a favorite terrapin 
liar, whose denizens have been called by knocking "to 
look out for themseh'^es." They do, The net draws 
regularly inward to a finish, and the terrapin are gath- 
ered to the fathers "at the club." 
The remaining fateful form of net is known as the 
"trap," It is about 4ft. long and has four or five hoops, 
some 3ft. in diameter and rather close together. Of 
course the hoops support a net having funnel-like net-s 
leading into it at both ends. Bait is hung in the center. 
Once entered, the terrapin remains, often in company 
with fifteen or twenty others, to see how somebody likes 
him. If this trap has not been so hung upon a pole 
as to keep its top above water the terrapin will drown, 
for he must often poke his nostrils into the air for 
breath. A slit in the trap side is our terrapin's exit 
toward clubland. Now all this last is summer work. 
The drag, the fateful drag, does awful execution in 
winter. Invented in 1845 by Mr. William Midgett, of 
Roanoke Island, to supply his personal use, it has be- 
come the chief supplier of the market. This fell instru- 
ment closely resembles the ordinary oyster dredge. The 
upper bar is of wood, and the lower bar, of iron, has 
teeth which are 3in. long and 2m. apart. The bars 
themselves, which are held parallel, are 3 or 4ft. long, 
and at the ends are separated by two loops about I4in. 
in diameter. The bag is 4ft. long. A sailboat will in 
winter pull one of these drags on either of its sides and 
back of it over the hibernating grounds of the terrapin. 
The gathered mud runs through the meshes of the bag. 
The terrapins remain just as safe from the catcher's stand- 
point as the written word. Of course the pitch of the 
drag is regulated by the position of the lines fastened 
to the two rings, and equally of course the drags can 
only be used in cold weather when the terrapin are 
chilled, under penalty otherwise of having these smart 
swimmers escape. 
Beneath such manifold pursuit, urged on by payment 
of eightv. ninety, nay, even a hundred dollars per dozen 
for "counts," as contrasted with one-third those sums 
even so recently as fifteen years ago. is it any wonder 
that the diamond-back terrapin is fast disappearing? 
Various nrethods for saving him from extinction and 
for ourselves have been tried. A notable one is the ter- 
rapin farm. This is nothing less than a terrapin-tight 
inclosure, allowing the salt water ingress to such marsh- 
land and sandbar as best represents his feeding and 
nesting grounds. But terrapins will, not thrive under 
such conditions; so say private experimenters, and so 
the United States Fish Commissioners inform me. A 
proper supply of food may be lacking, despite what 
nature and an artificial ration of crushed crab and fish 
there present, or it may be that such a large propor- 
tion of the young terrapins have their heads or legs 
bitten off by the old ones — and such is beyond doubt 
the fate of many — that the experiment fails. Another 
certain cause of loss, say to the extent of 50 per cent., 
is death by gangrene, coming from bruises, incurred by 
many of the old terrapins bought for stock purposes 
from seiners or tongers who have kept them carelessly 
on the hard ground beneath some box or in a pen till 
their crawling about has bruised their feet. A terrapin 
once thus bruised dies inevitably from gangrene. 
Protection by form of law is the other great effort to 
protect terrapin. As chairman of the special committee 
on terrapin of the Maryland Game and Fish Protective 
Association, I have been obliged to look into the effi- 
ciency of the Maryland State laws on this subject. In 
the main they are good, but they are irregular and they 
are not enforced. 
Using them as a type they should provide: 
1. A fine of $10, half to the informer, for every ter- 
raoin found in possession from April i to Nov. 1. 
2. Ten dollars fine for offering to sell at any time ter- 
rapins less than sin. long on the under shell. 
3. None but residents of a specific county should be 
allowed to catch terrapins in its waters under penalty 
of violating the law of trespass and of paying any fine 
incident to breaking sections i and 2 above. 
The enforcement of these simple laws would break up 
"pounding" (i. e., massing terrapins in a salt-water cor- 
ral), which keeps the large terrapins from laying, prevents 
the growth of little bulls or of little heifers and their 
breeding by marketing them before maturity, prevents 
the growth of many little terrapins by exposing them 
to the murderous bites of the larger ones, and finally 
offers a reward for catching terrapins in illegal periods. 
As to this last, consider that if there be no receivers 
there will be much smaller incentive to poach upon the 
public. 
Despite the enacted Maryland fines against having ter- 
rapins in possession, say, during the summer months, the 
pounding system exists in this State, and to such an 
extent that such an authority as the Standard Dictionary 
says "they (terrapins) are mostly caught in the summer 
and pent up in yards or corrals to be reserved for the 
winter months." 
Terrapins bought from these pounds are always thin 
arid so less toothsome; they have partially starved and 
so have suffered. 
Now to redeem my promise as to style of terrapin 
cooking: 
The approved Maryland style of cooking is as fol 
lows: Throw the live terrapin into tepid water, when the 
skin can be rubbed off Avith the finger remove the claw 
nails, and then briefly re-immerse in the same water until 
the shell cracks, finally remove them from the water, 
cut away the under shell and remove the gall bladder 
and the head, pull the terrapin to pieces with a fork, 
put in the eggs, and it is ready for cooking in a chafing 
dish. Upon the meat in the chafing dish in operation 
put a quantity of the best butter, and optionally a little 
milk or cream if it is desired to moderate the richness, 
add a proper quantity of black pepper and salt, allow to 
stew, stirring as necessary, and there you arel 
Wine is better from a wine glass than from a di,sh, 
and flour helps make better paste than stew. 
The Philadelphia style is as above, with the addition 
of eggs, creani, flour, spices and wine. From all which 
may Epicurus deliver us. This I say boldly, though 
aware that Baltimore, the boasted terrapiti town, uses 
only one-half so many terrapins as despised Philadelphia. 
But right is not, nor ever was, nor ever will be surely 
a matter of numbers. 
Before concluding I may be permitted to say a word 
as to the substitute for the diamond-back. On the 
Pacific coast and now here, imported thence, and from 
the midcontinent rivers and ponds to some extent, a 
fresh-water tortoise called Chelapus marmoratus is used, 
but it is a comparative failure, as lacking the right ter 
rapin's gamy salt flavor. All conditions favor the in- 
troduction of our diamond-back along our middle Pa- 
cific coast, especially along the marshes about San Fran- 
cisco. Why is it not accomplished? 
But the greatest, and an awful substitute for the dia- 
mond-back is the slippery shder or Pseudemys rugosa. 
He is red-bellied and wrinkled, as his name implies, and 
may we soon see the last of him, but we won't. It 
seems to me cooking this slider with saffron would 
vastly improve him. Certainly horse flesh so .cooked • 
becomes much less greasy tasting. At any rate you can- 
not spoil slider by any process of cooking. 
The terrapin, the oyster, and our fishes and birds are 
quickly being exterminated. To increase the .supply of 
them, that the pleasures of seeing, pursuing, tasting and 
eating them may be more generously accomplished, is 
the object I seek to help by this paper on one branch 
,<3if the subject. 
As for my single self, who can find sufficient gusta- 
tory pleasure and strength in viands simple, as bread 
nnd milk, and to whom the rich gravy of "terrapin 
stew" is somewhat displeasing, I must acknowledge 
that with me. according inferior rating to this supcrla 
tively vaunted plate, the gourmets do not all agree, 
though their dishes do. Dk Courcv W. Thom. 
Balti.more, Md. 
The Massachusetts Association. 
Boston, Feb. 9. — Editor Forest and Stream: The event 
of the year, the annual banquet of the Massachusetts Fish 
and Game Protective Association, came off at the Copley 
Square Hotel on Tuesday evening, and like its prede- 
cessors it was a most enjoyable affair. From a variety 
of causes there was an absence of some familiar faces. 
Col. Rockwell, the president, was unavoidably absent on 
accotmt of the death of a relative; Dr. Heber Bishop is 
in the Maine woods seeking live game for the Sports- 
men's Exposition to be held here next month, and Gov. 
Wolcott, who expected to be present, was obliged to send 
his regrets. This was a disappointment to all present, 
as the genial Governor takes a great interest in all mat- 
ters for which the Association stands. At 6:30 the com- 
pany, to the number of 130, proceeded to the tables, the 
guests being Col. H. A. Thomas, Rev. E. A. Horton. 
H. A. Stevenson, of Pittsfield, a member of the Legisla- 
ture; Hon. L. T. Carleton, of Maine; Rev. J. C. 
Jaynes, of Newton, and Antonio Apache. There were 
also present William Alny, T. G. Brewer, Loring 
Crocker. Luther Little, William R. Sears, Stanley Smith, 
George O. Sears, H. W. Abbott, P. W. Scudder, W. 
H. Allen. Dr. G. G. Sears, Dr. Robert M. Read, Judge 
J. S. G. Cobb, of Providence; John A. Morse, of Co- 
tint; Fred H. Talcott, Dr. H, W. Blair, Henry F, Col- 
burn, William K. Churchill, Lewis C. Marshall, Hon. 
Robert S. Gray, J. A. Victorson, Nelson L. Mtirtin, Dr. 
A. R. Brown, Dr. J. N. Ball, George H. Moore, Warren 
Hapgood, B. N. Howe, Joshua S. Duncklee, A. S. 
Adams. Sumner A. Gould, Edward E. Small, H. F. 
Morse, Dr. E. W. Branigan, Dr. William D. Ferguson, 
George H. Bartlett, Charles H. Cole, George M. Parker, 
James L. Wesson, C. W. West, Charles Butcher, Horace 
Litchfield, Hon. George W. Wiggin, William H. Sweatt. 
Hon. John G. Ray, S, W. Rich, William B. Bacon, John 
N. Roberts, Judge S. A. Bolster, A. D. Thayer, Myron 
W. Whitney, Arthur W. Robinson, president Megantic 
Club: Dr. John T. Stetson, Frank C. Brownell, W^ L. 
Mercer, William J. Newman, Benjamin F. Stevens, J. 
W. Wildnian, LI. S. Garfield, J. Franklin Wight, A. C. 
Risteen, Thomas Dickson, Charles W. Spear, C. J. 
Woodbury, Walter M, Brackett, E. A. Samuels, Joseph 
W. Smith, Henrv Allen, Henry N, Sawyer, William F. 
Smart, Henry Briest, John E. Hull, I. W. Adams, Wil- 
liam C. Prescott, Charles Stewart, Thomas H. Hall. 
Ex-President B. C. Clark, in the absence of Col. 
Rockwell, occupied the chair, and in his usual hearty, 
breezy manner kept things going at a lively rate. In 
opening the speechmaking he called attention to thr 
recent report of the State Fish Commission, especially 
in the falling off in the lobster fishery. This was a most 
important matter, and one demanding the utmost vigi- 
lance on the part of the Association. Reference wa. 
next made to the wanton destruction of plumage birds 
for millinery purposes. He quoted from a recent maga- 
zine article of Miss Hooper that sentiment was one of 
the grandest things in the world, and said that in nc 
place was sentiment such a force as in such _r 
body as this, one of whose chief aims was in 
preserving the bounty of nature. This was a worthy 
object and one that demanded and should receive ouj' 
best thought and attention. Before proceeding to intro- 
duce the regular speakers Mr. Clark read a few letters 
one from ex-President Cleveland regretting his inability 
to accept the committee's invitation to be present anc'; 
expressing his commendation of the objects of the As- 
sociation; another from Rev. W. H. H. Murray, whos( 
hearty words plainly showed that he has not forgotten 
