scarcely imagine that the direct ancestors of Sphargis had developed both kinds of

shells, and that comparatively recently the inner shell of the carapace was lost,
leaving only the nuchal plate. Fossils do not support such an assumption. Undoubted
ancestral forms of Sphargis are very rare. Psephophorus of the Oligocene and
Miocene of Europe had a continuous mosaic shell much resembling that of Sphargis;
Eosphargis is represented by a well-preserved skull from the London clay. Then
follows a wide gap until we come to Psephoderma of the Rhaetic, or Upper Trias of
Bavaria; the large fragment of whose dorsal shell is composed of about 200 mosaic
pieces. If this fragment really formed part of the shell {338}of a Chelonian, its
age would speak greatly in favour of the Athecae being a very primitive and
independent group.

Order II. THECOPHORA.

Thoracic vertebrae and ribs united with a series of median or neural and a paired
series of lateral or costal plates. Parietals prolonged downwards, meeting the
pterygoids directly or by interposition of an epipterygoid.

Sub-Order 1. Cryptodira.–The carapace is covered with horny shields. The neck, if

retractile, bends in an S-shaped curve in a vertical plane. The pelvis is not fused
with the shell.

Fam. 1. Chelydridae.–The plastron is small and cross-shaped (Fig. 61, 2, p. 315);

the bridge is very narrow, and the displaced abdominal shields are widely separated
from the marginals by a few irregularly shaped inframarginals. The tail is long.
The limbs, neck, and head are so stout that they cannot be completely withdrawn
into the shell. Snout with a powerful hooked beak. American; only two genera, each
with one species.

The temporal region is roofed very incompletely and only anteriorly by the expanded
parietals and postfrontals, which form a long suture. The plastron consists of nine
bony plates, a small entoplastron being present; there are lacunae in the middle
line, the plates meeting imperfectly, and the horny abdominal shields are likewise
separated by soft skin. The carapace has a nuchal with long rib-like processes
which underlie the marginals; the neural plates form a continuous series. There are
twenty-three marginal plates. The pubic and ischiadic symphyses remain separate,
enclosing one large heart-shaped foramen. The five fingers and toes are webbed and
are protected by claws except the outer toe, the nail of which is usually
suppressed.

Chelydra serpentina, the Snapping Turtle, attains a large size, namely, a shell-
length of more than one foot, and a total length from the nose to the tip of the
tail of more than three feet. Its range extends from the Canadian lakes east of the
Rocky Mountains, through the United States and Central America. The carapace of
young specimens has three very marked series of keels, which gradually disappear
with age, until in very old individuals the shell becomes quite smooth. The skin is
very warty, especially on the neck, and there is a pair of minute {339}barbels on
the chin. The tail carries three series of originally triangular horny crests,
which with age are transformed into blunt knobs. The general colour of this rather
ugly creature is olive, mottled with dark brown above and with yellowish below.

According to Holbrook the Snapping Turtle is found in stagnant pools, or in streams

where the waters are of sluggish motion. Generally they prefer deep water, and live
at the bottom of rivers; at times, however, they approach the surface, above which
they elevate the tip of their pointed snout, all other parts being concealed; and
in this way they float slowly with the current, but if disturbed they descend
speedily to the bottom. They are extremely voracious, feeding on fish, reptiles, or
any animal substance that falls in their way. They take the hook readily, whatever
may be the bait, though most attracted by pieces of fish; in this way many are
caught for the market. It is, however, necessary to have strong hooks and tackle,
otherwise they would be broken, for the animal puts forth great strength in his
struggles to escape, both with his firm jaws and by bringing his anterior
extremities across the line. When caught they always give out an odour of musk,
which in very old animals is sometimes disagreeably strong.

Occasionally the Snapping Turtle leaves the water, and is seen on the banks of
rivers or in meadows, even at a distance from its accustomed element. On land his
motions are awkward; he walks slowly, with his head, neck, and long tail extended,
elevating himself on his legs like the Alligator, which at that time he greatly
resembles in his motions; like the Alligator also, after having walked a short
distance, he falls down to rest for a few moments, and then proceeds on his
journey. In captivity they prefer dark places, and are exceedingly ferocious; they
will seize upon and bite severely anything that is offered them, and their grasp
upon the object with their strong jaws is most tenacious.

The Snapping Turtles, or "Snappers," are feared on account of the ferocious bites
which they inflict, and they are hated because of the destruction of valuable fish
and water-fowl. They in turn atone for this damage by being eaten, especially the
younger half-grown individuals, the flesh of the older ones being too much tainted
with the odour of musk. The round eggs, which are laid to the number of twenty to
thirty in the summer {340}(in the Northern States about June), are likewise good to
eat. The first act of the young creature on leaving the shell is said to be
snapping and biting. In captivity they are often very sulky, and refuse food
stubbornly for many months, perhaps for a whole year, and apparently without much
harm to themselves, since they lie quietly in the distant corner of the tank, now
and then slowly rising to the surface to breathe. Fresh-water algae grow on the
shell and in the mud which settles on it, and since this happens also in the wild
state, they are rendered as inconspicuous as old rotten logs. In order to attract
fishes they protrude a pair of worm-like, pale pink filaments from the tip of the
tongue.
fig74

Fig. 74.–Macroclemmys temmincki, "Alligator Turtle." × ⅙.

Macroclemmys temmincki, the "Alligator Turtle."–In size and general appearance much
like the other Snapping Turtle, but the dorsal shields have each a strong and
prominent keel, and these three series increase in size with age. The costal
shields are separated from the marginals by an additional series of about four
supramarginals, well shown in the illustration. The shields of {341}the cross-
shaped plastron are subject to much individual variation, small shields being
frequently intercalated, or rather retained, between the usual ones, especially
between the pectorals and abdominals, in the gular region, and on the narrow
bridge, where the inframarginals number one to three or even more. This species
inhabits, broadly speaking, the whole basin of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

This beast is as vicious as the other Snapping Turtle. According to Agassiz it does
not withdraw its head and limbs on the approach of danger, but resorts to more
active defence. It raises itself upon the legs and tail, highest behind, opens the
mouth widely, and throwing out the head quickly as far as the long neck will allow,
snaps the jaws forcibly upon the assailant, at the same time throwing the body
forward so powerfully as often to come down to the ground when it has missed its
object.

It lives mostly in the water, but makes considerable journeys overland. Both in the
water and on dry land the limbs move nearly perpendicularly, and the body is raised
high. On dry land a considerable part of the weight of the body is borne by the
long, strong tail.
"They are as ferocious as the wildest beast of prey, but the slowness of their
motions, their inability to repeat the attack immediately, their awkwardness in
attempting to recover their balance when they have missed their object, their
haggard look, and the hideous appearance of their gaping mouth, constitute at such
times a picture as ludicrous as it is fearful and revolting. Their strength is
truly wonderful. I have seen a large specimen bite off a piece of a plank more than
an inch thick. They take hold of a stick with such tenacity that they may be
carried for a considerable distance suspended to it free above the ground. Fishes
and young ducks are their ordinary prey. They lay from twenty to forty or more
round eggs only about the size of a small walnut in holes which they dig in sloping
banks not far from the water" (Agassiz).

Fam. 2. Dermatemydidae.–The pectoral shields are widely separated from the

marginals by inframarginals, the gular shields are very small or absent, and the
tail is extremely short. Only two or three genera, with three or four species in
Central America.

The plastron is composed of nine plates. In Dermatemys mawi it is large, firmly

joined to the carapace, covered with {342}eleven or more shields, and there are
four inframarginals; in Staurotypus salvini of Mexico the plastron is cruciform,
with the anterior lobe movable, covered with seven or more shields, according to
the fusion of the anal shields and the presence or absence of the gulars; there are
only two inframarginals. The pubic and ischiadic symphyses remain separate; the
temporal fossa remains widely open, the postfrontals scarcely touching the
parietals. There are 23 marginal shields in Staurotypus, 25 in Dermatemys,
including the unpaired nuchal. The nuchal plate has a pair of rib-like processes
like those of the Chelydridae, but some of the posterior costal plates, sometimes
only one pair, meet in the middle line, overlying or suppressing the corresponding
neural plates. The shell of these aquatic tortoises is rather flat, more or less
keeled, especially in young specimens, and in the fully adult condition is about
one foot in length.

Fam. 3. Cinosternidae, represented by the single genus Cinosternum, with about ten
species in North and Central America, and one in Guiana. Closely allied to the two
previous families, with which it agrees by the separation of the pubic and
ischiadic symphyses, the presence of an ento-plastral plate, the possession of
inframarginal shields (Fig. 61, 3, p. 315), the widely open temporal fossae, and
the rib-like pair of processes to the nuchal plate. It agrees with the
Dermatemydidae in the interruption of the neural plates by the meeting of several
pairs of the costal plates. There are 23 marginal shields; five or four shields,
according to the presence or absence of the gular on the plastron, and in some
species these plastral shields become, with age, more and more separated from each
other by soft skin (see Fig. 75). The shape and size of the plastron differ
considerably in the various species; in most of them, e.g. in C. pennsylvanicum and
C. leucostomum, but not in C. odoratum, the anterior and posterior lobes are
movable, with transverse soft hinges, so that the animal can completely close its
shell. The skin of the legs and neck is so baggy and loose that these parts slip
in, the skin rolling off, when the creature withdraws into its shell. They lay only
a few–from three to five–elliptical eggs, which have a shining, glazed, and thick,
but very brittle shell.
{343}
fig75

Fig. 75.–Cinosternum odoratum, young specimens. × ⅔. A and B, males; C, female.

Cinosternum odoratum, the Mud-Turtle, or Stinkpot Terrapin, so called on account of

the disagreeable smell which exudes from the inguinal glands. The head is
disproportionately large, with the snout rather compressed laterally, and pointed
underneath, with several short barbels. The neck is long and slender. The carapace
of the young is keeled, each of the neural shields being raised in the middle line;
but in full-grown specimens the shell becomes quite smooth and rounded. The horny
shields of the plastron are relatively largest in the young, but they soon leave
ever-increasing spaces between them, which are then filled with soft skin only,
which thinly covers the underlying bone. The {344}fore- and hind-limbs, especially
the latter, are extensively webbed, and are provided with five short claws. The
general colour of the shell is horny brown, either uniform or with darker spots or
streaks. The neck and limbs are mottled brown. The only ornamental colouring is a
pair of clear yellow broad lines on each side of the head, and a si