THE SEA AKD THE DESERT. 
187 
animals wliioh we saw on the sand at that time were 
spiders, which are to be found almost everywhere 
whether on snow or ice-water or sand, — and a venom¬ 
ous-looking, long, narrow worm, one of the myriapods, 
or thousand-legs. We were surprised to see spider- 
holes in that flowing sand with an edge as firm as that 
of a stoned well. 
In June this sand was scored with the tracks of turtles 
both large and small, which had been out in the night, 
leading to and from the swamps. I was told by a terrcB 
films who has a farm ” on the edge of the desert, and 
is familiar with the fame of Provincetown, that one man 
had caught twenty-five snapping-turtles there the pre¬ 
vious spring. His own method of catching them was 
to put a toad on a mackerel-hook and cast it into a pond, 
tying the line to a stump or stake on shore. Invariably 
the turtle when hooked crawled up the line to the stump, 
and was found waiting there by his captor, however long 
afterward. He also said that minks, muskrats, foxes, 
coons, and wild mice were found there, but no squirrels. 
We heard of sea-turtle as large as a barrel being found 
on the beach and on East Harbor marsh, but whether 
they were native there, or had been lost out of some ves¬ 
sel, did not appear. Perhaps they were the Salt-water 
Terrapin, or else the Smooth Terrapin, found thus far 
north. Many toads were met with where there was 
nothing but sand and beach-grass. In Truro I had been 
surprised at the number of large light-colored toads 
everywhere hopping over the dry and sandy fields, their 
color corresponding to that of the sand. Snakes also are 
common on these pure sand beaches, and I have never 
been so much troubled by mosquitoes as in such localities. 
At the same season strawberries grew there abundantly 
