The "Iberian Water-tortoise" is typical of the Iberian Peninsula, and extends through Morocco and Algeria far into North-Western Africa. Unknown to the north of the Cantabrian range, decidedly scarcer than its cousin Emys in the northern half of the Peninsula, it becomes common in the south. In the Alemtejo, in the lower parts of Andalucia and in Morocco, there is scarcely a pool, stream, or river in which it is not found, feeding on any living thing it can master, although fishes and frogs are its principal prey. When the streams and watercourses run dry, during the hot and dry season, the tortoises crowd together into the remaining pools, which soon become stagnant and filthy. But even these havens of refuge are not of lasting avail. They are soon cleared of anything edible, and the stinking water becomes dirtier and hotter day by day. Ultimately the tortoises leave the pool to hide under ledges of rocks, where they aestivate for months. This life in the muddy, slimy pools renders these tortoises peculiarly liable to the attacks of a certain fresh-water alga, which enters through the cracks in the horny shields and then flourishes in the Malpighian layer, and even in the underlying bone itself. This becomes gangrenous in patches, and the whole shell assumes a leprous appearance, hence the specific name of leprosa. Everything combines in favour of this destructive little alga. The tortoise, covered with mud, basks in the hot sun, the horny shields become brittle and crack, often peeling off in thin flakes. But those happy individuals which inhabit permanent rivers, or pools which do not dry up, are, and remain, as clean as other water-tortoises.
C. leprosa has a most disagreeable, offensive smell, something like concentrated essence of fish, due to the secretion of a pair of large glands situated beneath the skin of the inguinal region, and opening behind the bridge. Freshly caught specimens stink horribly, but when they have become accustomed to being handled, they no longer void these glands. They always withdraw into the water for the night, and the cold season is spent in the mud. Their time of propagation is still somewhat doubtful. Very young tortoises are met with in the Peninsula in March, when they are already in the rivers. Those which I imported in the summer and autumn invariably dug their nests and laid their long, oval eggs (28 to 33 mm. long) in the month of November, pairing having taken place some two or three months previously. The mode of making the nest is exactly the same as that described for Emys. As most of my specimens were kept in a greenhouse with a permanent current of warm water through their tanks, they never hibernated, nor did they pass through a torpid time in the summer, but they showed an irresistible love for the hot-water pipes, huddling together by the dozen, so that the pipes had to be screened off to prevent the creatures from getting burnt. Until this precaution was taken, they heated themselves so much that the shields and even the bones of the plastron were injured. The artificial warm temperature and the complete suppression of seasonal rest had no bad influence, most of the tortoises living with undiminished appetite for more than twelve years, but the sexual period became disturbed, pairing occurring ultimately at all times of the year. The eagerness of the males, however, had a peculiar evil secondary influence upon the females. The male tries to fasten on to its mate by biting into the collar-like fold of the neck into which the head is withdrawn, and this repeated irritation produces sores and swellings, which latter in their turn prevent the female from wiping the eyes with the back of the fore-limbs, a habit common to most, if not all, tortoises. Ultimately the eyes fester, and the tortoise, becoming practically blind, falls off its feed, leaves the water, which makes matters worse, and is very difficult to cure.
In other respects they are very hardy, and they stand acclimatisation in England perfectly. Some, thriving in a deep concreted pond, passed through the very severe winters of several years ago, hiding in the mud below the ice, and appeared in the spring in perfect health. They can also successfully pass the winter under moss and a heap of loose garden-rubbish.
C. caspica is closely allied to C. leprosa, which it represents in the Balkan Peninsula and in Asia Minor. It differs from the south-western species chiefly by having the cutting edges of the upper jaw finely denticulated, and by its prettier coloration, each shield being ornamented with yellowish streaks which form a kind of ∞ on the costals, and a ring on the marginals. The plastron is black in the young, with yellow and black patches in the adult. The head and sides of the neck are striped with yellow lines, narrowly edged with black, and the rest of the soft parts is marbled dark olive and yellow. A few other species occur in China, Japan, and North America.
Clemmys insculpta, one of the American species, ranging from Maine to Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is easily recognised by the peculiar reddish-brown and brick-dust colour of the soft parts. The strongly keeled, posteriorly emarginate carapace is reddish brown, with radiating yellow lines. Each shield is delicately sculptured. The plastron, which is notched behind, is yellow, with a large black patch on the outer corner of each shield. Length of a full-grown specimen 8 inches. They frequent the rivers and ponds, but are also very fond of leaving the water, sometimes remaining for months in dry places.
Malacoclemmys of North America, with three species only, is closely allied to Clemmys, from which it differs chiefly by the very broad alveolar surface of the upper jaw, and by the more forward position of the entoplastron, this being placed anteriorly to the humero-pectoral suture. We mention this genus since one of its species, M. terrapin, is so extensively eaten in the Eastern United States. The shell is oval, slightly emarginate behind, obtusely carinated along the middle line. The upper parts of the shell are brown or greenish, with dark concentric lines; the marginals are yellow below, each with a ring of dark grey, and forming a peculiarly up-turned rim. The plastron is yellowish, either with concentric stripes and dusky lines or uniform yellow. But it is the colour of the soft parts which gives this otherwise dull-looking creature its delicately pretty appearance. The skin is, namely, greenish white with countless small black dots. The males remain much smaller than the females, and have the concentric stripes more pronounced. This species, the choicest of the edible Terrapins, frequents the salt marshes of the east coast of North America, from Rhode Island to the Gulf of Mexico, being most abundant around Charleston.
The following is a condensed account of an article which appeared in the New York Sun, 18th September 1898, the data of which were supplied by the manager of the terrapin-farm at Beaulieu, Georgia. The continued hunting and the unfailing demand for them are making them very scarce, so that enterprising men have established terrapin-farms or "crawls" for the keeping and breeding of terrapins. The "crawls" in question are near the river. The larger is 310 by 60 feet, and is divided into three compartments for three sizes. The smaller "crawl" is for the babies, and is 100 by 8 feet. Through both "crawls" runs a ditch connected with the river and making a circuit of the farm. The bottom of the "crawls" is on a level with the low tide, and is covered with a layer of mud about six inches deep. Into this the terrapins burrow in the winter. The average population of terrapins is about 40,000, one half "bulls" and the other half "heifers." The latter are much better eating, and grow to a much larger size, namely, eight inches on the plastron, while the "bulls" rarely grow over five inches long. When a female reaches six to eight inches it is called a "count." Those between five-and-a-half to six inches long are known as "two-for-threes," while those from five to five-and-a-half inches are known as "halves." They are fed exclusively on shrimps and crabs on account of the flavour, although they will eat almost anything. The 40,000 consume on an average twenty bushels of crustaceans a day. They are quite indifferent to cold. The manager saw some placed in a block of ice and frozen fast to it; after four or five days they were chopped out, thawed, and were soon as lively as ever. The statement that it takes these terrapins only seven years to attain full commercial growth is surprising, and is probably an underestimate. At the end of the large "crawl" is a board to enable the females to creep into a sand-pit, where they lay the eggs from April to June, eight to twelve forming a set. It is necessary to get the babies away from their parents as soon as they hatch, else they will be eaten. The young must not be exposed to the cold. The old ones have a large amount of curiosity. The best way of catching them is for two men to go out in a boat with a net. They row carefully along until they come to a likely spot. Then one man raps several times sharply on the boat with a stick, and if there are any terrapin about they will come to the surface just as fast as they can get there to see what is going on, and the other man scoops them up with a little net. Another way, used in the salt marshes, is for the negroes to go tramping through the mud and water. If they pass any terrapin these will rise out of the mud to see what the disturbance is. The captives are then fattened in the "crawl." When the men go in to feed them they whistle, and terrapin from all over the "crawl," thousands of them, come swimming through the water, piling over each other in their efforts to get close to the man with the shrimps and crabs.
Cistudo.–The plastron, without forming a bridge, is connected with the carapace by ligaments, and is divided into two movable lobes, the transverse hinge being so perfect that the box can be completely closed after head, legs, and tail have been withdrawn. The nuchal shield is very small; the first four neurals are large and broad, the fifth much broader than long. There are twelve pairs of marginal shields. The carapace is high and arched. The digits are almost completely free. The tail is very short. The skull is without a bony temporal arch, the quadrato-jugal and the jugal being absent. Only two species, in North America.
C. carolina of the Eastern United States is a very interesting species. Closely allied by its internal structure to the water-tortoises, it has become absolutely terrestrial; and the shape of the head, the convex shell which is coloured black and yellow or orange-brown, and the short webless fingers are all terrestrial features. But the rather long toes, provided with long and sharp claws, the broad and flat feet, enlarged by a broad fold of skin on the outer margin, the long oval eggs, the smooth covering of the head, and the preponderant animal diet, still proclaim the aquatic relationship of this tortoise. It is in fact a genus which has changed habits and features from aquatic to terrestrial life. The head is covered with a smooth skin, and the upper beak, especially in old specimens, is strongly and broadly hooked. The eyes of the males are red, those of the females are brown. The plastron of the males is concave, that of the females is flat. Large females reach a length of nearly six inches. The young are nearly round, with high, arched back and prominent keels. The keels of the middle line remain a long time, but they gradually flatten down with age, being prominent only at their posterior ends. Each dorsal shield is originally nicely sculptured, with a well-marked areola and concentric rings. Very old individuals become much flatter on the top of the shell, but the sides remain steep, so that the whole shell roughly resembles a somewhat oblong box with the corners rounded off, and the whole upper surface rubbed down quite smooth. The variations of colour are almost endless, and they occur in the same localities. I have a number of all ages from Long Island, near New York. The half-grown are beautifully reddish or orange-brown with dark patches, median keels prominent, plastron uniform black-brown. In others the dark-brown prevails over the lighter markings, which are yellower and more spotted or dotted than patched. Some of the oldest, with quite smooth shells, are black, with small, round, light yellow spots. Others are vermiculated or striped with yellow and black. The soft parts vary to the same extent, some showing on the neck a beautiful intricate pattern of yellow, reddish and brown, while in others these colours are arranged more or less in longitudinal stripes.
These "Box-tortoises" are often caught in the States and kept as pets in the gardens, and their owners mark them by cutting their initials into the plastron. These marks heal up and widen in time like letters cut into the bark of a tree. One of my specimens, certainly a very old one to judge from his hooked beak, perfectly smooth and flat shell, and from the condition of the marginals, which have the edges rubbed down quite smooth and rounded off, has two initials and the date 1837 on its plastron. Of course there is no proof that the date had been cut in that year, more than sixty-three years ago, but it was done a long time ago. The scars on those parts of the shell which touch the ground are almost effaced, and the letters and figures have become somewhat distorted owing to the usual unequal, not concentrical, peripheral growth. Moreover, this tortoise must have been already adult, although not quite fully grown, since the marks are large and were evidently put in such a size and position as to fit the available space. I may mention that this record tortoise was, when I got it, not kept in confinement, but had been picked up at large.