TEE MAT AM AT A. 
17 
Though, a very valuable and curious reptile, the Alligator Terrapin is far from beautiful, 
with its little dusky shell, its long, knob-covered tail, its singular legs and feet, and its great, 
sharply-toothed jaws. On account of its habit of snapping fiercely at its opponents, it is often 
called by the name of Snapping Turtle, a title, however, which rightly belongs to a species 
which will shortly be described. 
Its head is large, and covered with a hard, wrinkled skin ; the neck is long, thick, and 
furnished with a number of projecting tubercles. Under the chin are two distinct barbels. 
When adult, the shell is so formed that a depression runs along the centre, leaving a kind of 
keel at each side of the central line ; but when young, the shell forms three distinct keels. It 
is rather flat, oblong, and at the hinder portion is deeply cleft, so as to form a row of blunt 
teeth, but while young the teeth are sharp. The tail is stout, long, and is furnished with a 
series of large, blunt tubercles along its central line. 
The Snapping Turtle is the familiar name of this species in the countryside of New 
England. It is rather common in all parts of North America, and is found southward as far 
as Ecuador. Dr. Pickering, of Eastern Massachusetts, records the length of one as “ over four 
feet ; ” the shell being only about half that in length. This exposure of so large a proportion 
of its fleshy parts is scarcely paralleled in any other species. Its stout and long tail, and its 
long neck quite warrant the use of a Southern designation it has — Alligator Tortoise. The 
savage, snapping habit gives it the common Northern name. The term Alligator Terrapin 
seems very appropriate, as the Terrapins all have the corrugated backs. In some quarters 
the flesh is esteemed. 
MATAMATA . — Ghelys matamata. 
We now arrive at another family of Tortoises, termed Chelydes, an example of which is 
the remarkable Matamata, the acknowledge type of its family. 
All the Chelydes have broad, flattened heads, long, broad, contractile necks, and when in 
repose have a curious custom of bending their necks under the side of the carapace. Their 
feet are webbed, in order to enable them to pass rapidly through the water, and there is always 
Vol. III.— 3. 
