TURTLES. 
8r 
everything within its reach; and an adult has been known to make a clean 
perforation with its powerful beak through the blade of an oar half an inch in 
thickness. When one of these tortoises is taken into a boat, Weinland states that 
it will rear itself up on its liind-legs, and with lightning-like speed throw itself 
half a yard forwards to bite an oar; and they have been known to inflict terrible 
wounds on persons who have incautiously entered waters where they abound. In 
the water the movements of these reptiles are more rapid than those of most of 
their kin, and when in pursuit of prey they swim with surprising speed. Their 
food consists largely of fish, frogs, and other water-animals; while they will also 
frequently seize and drag down large aquatic birds, more especially ducks and 
geese. Tame specimens, that were kept in a pond in the United States, proved 
terrible foes to the stock of fish contained in the same. The eggs, which vary 
from twenty to thirty in number, and are about the size of those of a pigeon, are 
deposited on the ground near the water, and are carefully covered over with leaves. 
In captivity these tortoises thrive well in Europe, if the water be kept at a 
sufficiently high temperature; and a specimen of Temminck’s snapper, which has 
lived for more than thirteen years in the Brighton Aquarium, grew to a length of 
between 4 and 5 feet from beak to tail, whereas, on its arrival, it measured less 
than a foot. In the confined limits of a tank the movements of this reptile were 
deliberate and sluggish, and gave no idea of the activity characterising the wild 
state. Although the flesh of the adult of this species has such a strong musky 
flavour as to be uneatable, that of the young is stated to be tender and palatable. 
The eggs are also sought after as articles of food; and when two or three females 
have laid together, as many as from sixty to seventy may be taken from a 
single nest. 
The Turtles. 
Family Cuelonidje. 
The families mentioned up to now have their feet more or less fully 
adapted for walking on land, and the majority of the toes furnished with well- 
developed claws or nails; while the carapace is generally of a somewhat oval 
form. The true turtles, on the other hand, while agreeing with the foregoing in 
having their shells covered with horny plates, are at once distinguished by the 
limbs being converted into flattened paddles, in which, at the most, only two of the 
toes are furnished .with claws. They are further characterised by the heart-like 
form of the carapace, within which the head can be only partially withdrawn; 
while the plastron is never united by bone to the carapace, and vacuities remain 
in the latter between the costal and marginal bones either throughout life, or for 
a very long period. The skull has its temporal fossae completely roofed over by 
bone; and the vertebrae of the very short tail have the articular cup in front and 
the ball behind. Entirely marine in their habits, and resorting to the shore only 
for the purpose of breeding, turtles differ from tortoises and terrapins in that the 
shells of their eggs are soft. In their entire conformation they are admirably 
adapted for an aquatic life, the body being depressed to facilitate rapid progress 
through the water, both the skull and shell being of unusually light and porous 
vol. v.—6 
