THE POND TUKTLE. 
189 
foot or bj the neck. Sometimes a wicker pot or 
creel, made on the same principle as a wire mouse- 
trap, is set, which allows the ingress, but precludes 
the return of the animal. 
A young one of this species, a pretty, brightly- 
marked little thing, much flatter than the adult, and 
about as large as the palm of one’s hand, I brought 
alive to England in a chip-box. In this its prison, 
whose walls it could feel all around at the same 
moment, it performed its voyage of transportation, 
without food ; and arrived in good health. Through 
the remainder of the summer and autumn it was 
lively, and was often indulged with a swim in a tub 
of water, which it evidently enjoyed. The instinctive 
stratagem by which the species takes its prey was 
well exemplified in the manners of this infant Turtle. 
On my dropping a small earthworm, or a little piece 
of meat into the water, the animal, on being aware 
of its presence, would creep with the utmost slowness 
and caution towards it, until within reach ; then, 
quick as lightning, the head was darted out, and as 
suddenly retracted, bearing the morsel in the horny, 
beak-like jaws, to be swallowed at leisure. 
This specimen, kept in a box in a warm corner of 
the kitchen, lived through the coldest part of the 
winter ; but died at last about the end of February, 
after a sojourn here of nearly seven months. 
Along with the above described, frequenting the 
same situations, having the same habits, and nearly 
equally common, another species is taken, E. rugosa, 
distinguished by having the pale-yellow plates of the 
sternum each edged with a broad border of dark 
