Nov. 1, 1S66.3 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



247 



to satiety, as I have already said ; because if this pre- 

 caution were neglected, the cement subsequently 

 applied at the two ends, would in a measure pass 

 between the two glasses, and would spoil the look 

 of the preparation. The cement necessarily remains 

 on the outside (especially if it is pretty thick) when 

 no blank exists between the two glasses." 



I have two remarks to make upon the above. 

 First, that when using glycerine, the superfluity can 

 be readily washed off with a camel-hair pencil and 

 water, without danger of reducing the quantity 

 already between the glasses. Second, that the plan of 

 putting the glass cover flat upon the object is a good 

 one, and according to my experience much more 

 likely, when mounting in balsam, to prevent entrap- 

 ping air-bubbles, especially if the cover is first 

 moistened with a little diluted balsam. This is, 

 I know, contrary to the advice contained in trea- 

 tises on mounting, where we are recommended to 

 make " a wave of balsam " by putting the cover 

 on gradually, but, practically, the first is much the 

 better plan. E. M. 



THE EDIBLE TURTLE {Chelonia mydas) AND 

 THE FIMBRIATED TORTOISE (C/ielys 

 fimbriata). 



"l/TR.. W. ZEPPENFELDT, the proprietor of an 

 oyster-cellar and refreshment-rooms in Ham- 

 burg, and an importer of living turtles for soup 

 purposes, frequently obtains specimens weighing 

 from 300 lbs. to 400 lbs., and he keeps them some- 

 times for three or four months, but these 'large 

 ones never eat anything during that time. About 

 ten months since, however, he got two small ones, 

 one weighing 30 lbs. and one 18 lbs., and finding 

 that these took food, and were unusually lively, they 

 were not killed, but preserved for curiosity's sake. 

 The larger one of the two Mr. Zeppenfelclt himself 

 kept, and the other he kindly sent to the Hamburg 

 aquarium ; but I had no proper accommodation 

 where it could swim about without stirring up the 

 water too much, and accordingly I transferred it to 

 a small open-air pond, where it lived with some 

 water-birds, till in a few weeks it died. Its food 

 was raw cabbage and other green stuff. Mr. 

 Zeppenfeldt kept his turtle in a very large, open, 

 shallow wooden tub of fresh water, which in sum- 

 mer was changed daily, and in cool weather every 

 other day. In the middle was a large stone forming 

 an island, on which the animal rested for some 

 hours daily when not swimming or floating. It was 

 kept in the open air, but out of the sun, in fine 

 warm weather ; and at night and in cold seasons it 

 was removed within doors. It was fed on raw 

 cabbage, and on lettuces and other salads, carefully 

 given by hand, and all unconsumed fragments were 



taken out of the tub when the animal had had 

 enough. It took food so freely, indeed, that it 

 increased in weight about 2 lbs. during the nine or 

 ten months of captivity, when it died. I do not 

 know of any specimen having lived so long in con- 

 finement as this one. I have often had small ones, 

 and have seen them in the Regent's Park aquarium, 

 but their life has always been measured by a few 

 days, or a week or two at most. Mr. Zeppenfeldt's 

 success was undoubtedly owing to the great care 

 he took of his animal, and by the fact of its being 

 kept in a vessel in which the creature was easily 

 accessible to be fed and cleaned. Much importance 

 was attached to the state of the turtle's eyes, and 

 if not carefully sponged every day with tepid water, 

 they became grown over with a kind of slimy mucus, 

 which caused sickness and loss of appetite. 



For the sake of the bearing it has on natural 

 history, it may be just named that Mr. Zeppenfeldt 

 makes Chinese bird-nest soup so frequently that the 

 dish always stands in print on the dinner cartes of 

 the house, and it is retailed to customers at the 

 rate of four shillings sterling a plateful ! I do not 

 know of any place in London or Paris where this 

 scarce article is thus common. The nests themselves, 

 the produce of a swallow (Hirundo esadenta), are 

 shown before being dissolved, and are cup-shaped, 

 or rather boat-shaped, masses of greyish-looking 

 gelatine, having no very decided taste. 



I may as well mention that about a year ago I 

 had under my care a rare tortoise, Chelys matamata, 

 or C. fimbriata, having a much corrugated and 

 strongly ribbed carapace of about sixteen inches 

 long and twelve inches diameter. It was remark- 

 able for the very curious and long appendages with 

 which its much-extended neck, head, and chin were 

 furnished, giving it a most grotesque appearance. 

 Its upper jaw greatly projected beyond the lower 

 one, and it formed a kind of proboscis, at the end of 

 which were placed the nostrils. Its habits were 

 very monotonous and slow. It remained constantly 

 with its body under water, and when it wanted to 

 breathe, it, with much deliberation, brought its 

 nostrils to the surface till they projected about a 

 quarter of an inch above the water, and then, having 

 expelled some old air and taken in a fresh supply, it 

 quietly sank to the bottom. It had a widely-opening 

 mouth, but I always saw it closed till after its 

 death, which took place in about a month after 

 its arrival here. I do not know whether it took 

 any food during this time, but unfortunately I 

 did not watch it at night. It came from some river 

 in South America. In the natural history division 

 of the "English Cyclopedia," vol. i., pp. 1001-2 

 it is tolerably well figured, and it is stated that a 

 female lived some months in Paris, and laid three 

 eggs, one of which was hatched, and the young 

 animal preserved in the Paris museum. 



Hamburg. W. Alford Lloyd. 



