THE SNAPPING TURTLE is a large fresh-water tortoise,
Chelydra serpentina, of the rivers and marshes of North and Central America, noted for its fierceness. It sometimes exceeds 3 feet in length, but ordinarily is about half that. Its jaws are large and so strong that often it may be lifted from the ground by the object it bites. It feeds upon fish and all sorts of small aquatic animals. A second species belongs to the lower Mississippi valley, the alligator snapper,
Macrochelys temminckii, which is larger and is considered for its size the strongest of reptiles. These turtles, early in June, seek a sand bank, where the females dig boles with their hind feet and bury 25 or 30 small spherical eggs, smoothing the sand carefully over them. These two species constitute the family Chelydridae.
