ON THE COAST OF DEVONSHIRE 



137 



book is right. There are also other peculiarities, which serve 

 to confirm me in this opinion. There is a ridge, although a 

 very inconsiderable one, running along the centre of the mid- 

 dle scales ; and the toes, two on each fin, are strongly deve- 

 loped, the larger one on the anterior fin being an inch and a 

 quarter in length. Should you, on reference to better works 

 on the subject than I can procure at this distance from Lon- 

 don, think with me that this is the Caretta, it will next be- 

 come a question whether he visited these shores through the 

 agency of man or the elements ; and on this part of the sub- 

 ject I must say that I am strongly inclined towards the latter 

 opinion ; for certainly I never in the course of my experience, 

 remember weather more favourable to such a result. For 

 three weeks prior to the day he was found, there had been 

 one uninterrupted gale from the West-South-West, excepting 

 only once or twice for an hour or two, when the wind shifted 

 a few points nearer to the North. Now supposing him to 

 have been an inhabitant of the seas to the northward of the 

 Azores, and on this subject I speak with deference to your 

 greater knowledge, such a gale as I have described would 

 have brought him here, lying, as I presume he did, on the top 

 of the waves, at the rate of several miles an hour. And on the 

 other hand, there is no great likelihood of his having been 

 washed from on board any ship, inasmuch as both his flesh 

 and shell are nearly valueless, and therefore it is improbable 

 that any one should have taken the trouble of bringing him to 

 this country.'' 



Mr. Wilcox having favoured me with a sketch of the turtle 

 fonning the subject of the above extract, with dimensions of 

 the various parts, taken apparently with great accuracy, T will 

 add the following particulars from his data, which 1 think 

 will serve to illustrate the subject more fully. 



Total lenglk of the dorsal and marginal plates 2 feet 11 inches. 



Total width of ditto 2 



9 



These measurements are taken over the convex surface. 

 The dorsal plates, fifteen in number, commencing from the 

 fore-part, measure as follow. — 



First lateral plate Q^ inches broad, 3i inches long. 



Second ditto 12 ditto, 5i ditto. 



Third ditto 12^ ditto, 6 ditto. 



Fourth ditto 11 ditto, 6 ditto. 



Fifth ditto 7 ditto, 7 ditto. 



First central plate ... 5^ ditto, 4 ditto. 



Second ditto 6 ditto, 6^ ditto. 



Third ditto 6 ditto, 6 ditto. 



Fourth ditto 6 ditto, 6 ditto. 



Fifth ditto 6 ditto, 6 ditto. 



Vol. IV.— No. 39. n. s. q 



These mea- 

 surements give 

 greatest 



the 



length and 

 breadth of each 

 plate. 



