72 The Salt-water Terrapen. REPTILES. The Chelydes. 
is of an oval form, rather convex, and slightly tnber- 
culated. The shields are of a pale yellow colour, 
marked with brown, impressed, concentric rings. The 
legs, neck, &c., of the animal are gray, with black spots 
and lines. The head is very large, and the jaws are 
strong and sharp-edged. The neck and tail are both 
short and thick. The males are smaller than the 
females, and the concentric stri® are more deeply 
impressed. This animal, as has been said above, lives 
in salt water and salt marshes, and is never met far 
from them. In their immediate neighbourhood it 
forms its winter habitation. It is described as a timid 
animal, easily disturbed, and hiding itself on the least 
alarm. It swims with great rapidity, and even on land 
it moves quickly. Mr. Holbrook informs us that this 
species of Terrapen is widely distributed in America, 
abounding in marshy places from Rhode Island to 
Florida. It is found also along the northern shores 
of the Gulf of Mexico. “ This seems,” he says, “ to 
be the only Terrapen common to North and South 
America, and it is not singular when we consider that 
all others of the tribe live in fresh water — this alone in 
salt ; consequently, it might be driven by currents from 
island to island, and from one shore of the gulf to the 
other, like the Chelonia or Sea-tortoises ; and yet I 
have never received them from any of the West India 
islands, nor have I any evidence of the existence of 
this species among them. They are very abundant 
in the salt marshes around Charleston, and are easily 
taken when the female is about to deposit her eggs, in 
the spring and early summer months. They are then 
brought in immense numbers to market ; yet, notwith- 
standing this great destruction, they are so prolific that 
their number appears undiminished. Their flesh is 
excellent at all times, but in the northern cities it is 
most esteemed when the animal has been dug out of 
the mud in a state of hybernation.” 
The Box tortoises, including the genera Cistudo 
and Kinosternon, are remarkable species belonging 
to this family, and form a natural group distinguished 
by several important characters, the most peculiar of 
which consists in the species having their plastron or 
breastplate separated, as it were, into two {Cistudo) or 
three {Kinosternon) divisions, which are movable upon 
each other. 
The genus Cistudo has an oval plastron with an 
entire margin, which is divided by a cross suture 
between the pectoral and abdominal plates. It thus 
consists of two sections, the hinder of which is the 
larger. These sections are joined by a hinge formed 
of a sort of articular cartilage, which allows by its elas- 
ticity of their having a degree of motion sufficient to 
enable the animal to open the shell so as to move its 
limbs without inconvenience, or, on the other hand, 
to bring it into close contact with the upper shell, and 
thus inclose itself within a complete box — hence the 
name Box tortoise. The genus is represented by — 
THE THREE-STREAKED BOX TORTOISE {Cistudo 
or Cvora trifasciata) — Plate 6, fig. 4. The cara- 
pace, which is of a clear brown colour, is somewhat 
oblong, and marked with three distinct keels of a 
black hue, and the toes are strong and widely 
webbed to the claws. The head is long, narrow, and 
somewhat depressed, and is of a yellow colour, with 
two horizontal black or deep-brown streaks on each 
side, passing from the nostrils across the orbit to the 
back part of the head, where they unite. The neck 
is very long, ashy above and yellow beneath. The 
tail is rather long and slender, and without any horny 
appendage at the extremity. A live specimen of this 
species was to be seen a few years ago in the gardens 
of the Zoological Society in London ; but as to its 
habits in the wild state we have no particular informa- 
tion, except that it is a native of China. 
The other genus of Box tortoises, Kinosternon, is 
characterized b}^ the species having the plastron or 
breastplate formed of three distinct lobes or sections. 
It is divided by two cross sutures, the central lobe 
being fixed to the carapace by a bony attachment, and 
having the anterior and posterior lobes articulated to 
it by a ligament, and movable. The species are all 
natives of America. Some of them are odoriferous. 
There are two, especially, which are found in the 
same localities, very much resembling each other, and 
exhaling a strong odour of musk. 
THE MUD TERRAPEN {Kinosternon Pennsylvanicum) 
is about four inches long, and inhabits ditches and 
mudd}^ streams from New Jersey to Florida. It preys 
upon small fish, according to Le Conte, and other 
aquatic animals ; bites readily at the hook ; and is 
therefore very troublesome to anglers. It takes hold 
of the bait very gently, and draws it slowly to the bot- 
tom of the water, and frequently it allows several 
minutes to elapse before it seizes it in such a manner 
as to allow of its being taken. 
THE SCENTED KINOSTERNON {Kinosternon odor- 
atum), the other species alluded to, is often called the 
Mud Terrapen also in the Southern states. Its odour 
appears to be stronger than the preceding, very dis- 
agreeable to many people. Mr. Storer, in his Report 
of the Reptiles of Massachusetts, in the Boston Journal 
of Natural History, says : — “ This species has a very 
disgusting odour, and is hence sometimes called Stink- 
pot. It is found burying itself in the mud in ditches 
and small ponds, frequently covered with a thick coat 
of foreign matter, from which circumstance it has 
received the common name of Mud tortoise." It is a 
little smaller than the preceding, being about three and 
a half inches long, and is found in the same locali- 
ties as it. 
THE CHELYDES {Chelydidce). 
In addition to the distinguishing characters of this 
family of Fresh-water Pond tortoises, given at p. 70, 
we may remark here, that in all the genera but one 
the nostrils are simple, and open in the upper part, 
and in a notch of the horny sheath of the upper man- 
dible. In the case of the Matamata alone, they are 
prolonged beyond the muzzle, in the form of a small 
proboscis. In general the head is naked, and the jaws 
are never toothed, but are sharp-edged. The neck is 
always enveloped in a lax and flexible skin, which in 
some is naked, in others granular, and in others 
furnished with appendages or plates of floating skin ; 
