CARNIVOROUS CHELONIANS 
shore to lay their eggs and are helpless, they are turned 
over, and then removed at leisure. It is said that the 
jaguar imitates man in this mode of catching turtles, 
and that he scoops out the succulent flesh then and 
there. The product known as “ tortoiseshell’’ has 
been mentioned. This, as a matter of fact, comes 
more especially from the near ally of the green turtle, 
Chelone mdas, Ch. imbricata, the hawk’s bill turtle. 
Although useless for the purposes of Calipash and 
Calipee, the hawk’s bill turtle is much hunted for its 
tortoiseshell. The pursuit of the turtle for its tortoise- 
shell is as old as the Egyptians, who traded with the 
Romans. The substance is, of course, made of the 
epidermic scales exactly comparable to those of lizards 
and snakes, which overlie the bony plates of the 
carapace. 
A ‘SNAPPING TURTLE ”’ 
Macroclemmys temmincku may be fairly regarded 
as the prototype of the celebrated “‘ snapping turtle ”’ 
of the Bongaultier ballads, finally put to rout by Rufus 
Daws, and at whose approach alligators bounded up 
the trees like squirrels. It is, in fact, called the alligator 
terrapin, though not from its association with the 
ballad referred to. It is so named by reason of fierce 
and slightly alligator-like head, by its ridged tail, and 
by reason of its carnivorous habits. These water 
tortoises, in fact, are not vegetarians like the testu- 
dinide of the land. They attack fish, and feed gene- 
rally upon living animals of such kinds as their bulk 
and agility will allow them to capture. The difference 
between this and other water tortoises and the tand 
tortoises is, that the limbs and tail, as well as the head, 
are too large and stout to be withdrawn into the shelter 
of the carapace. They are obliged, therefore, to trust 
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