TORTOISES, TERRAPINS, AND TURTLES. 13 



36. CHELONIA MYDAS. 



Tab. LIX. & LX. (young). 

 Mj/das viridis, Gray, Cat. Sh. Rept. Suppl. p. 119. 

 Hab. Atlantic Ocean. 



Dr. Holbrook gives the following interesting account of the habits of this animal : — " They live 

 mostly in deep water, feeding on marine plants, especially one called Turtle-grass {Zostera marina) ; 

 this, according to Audubon, they cvit near the roots, to procu.re the most tender and succulent part, 

 which alone is eaten, while the rest of the plant floats to the surface, and is there collected in large 

 fields — a sure indication that the feeding- ground of the Green Turtle is near. In confinement, 

 however, they eat readily enough purslain {Portnlaca oleracea), and even grow fat on this nourish- 

 ment. 



" Green Turtles are A'ery seldom seen to approach the land, unless at certain seasons to lay their 

 eggs ; and in the months of April and May great numbers seek for this purpose the sandy shores of 

 desolate islands or the uninhabited banks of certain rivers, where they are least liable to interruption 

 in their work of reproduction. The Tortugas Islands are a favourite haunt ; these are four or five 

 uninhabited sand-banks, which are only visited by turtlers and wreckers. Between these islands are 

 deep channels, so that the Turtles come at once to good landing. They are not confined, however, to 

 these islands, but are found abundantly on other keys and inlets on the main. The female arrives by 

 night : slowly and cautiously she approaches the shore, and, if undisturbed, crawls at once over the sand 

 above high-water mark ; here, Avith her fins, she digs a hole one or two feet deep, in which she lays her 

 eggs, between one and two hundred in number. These she ' arranges in the most careful manner, and 

 then scoops the loose sand back over the eggs, and so levels and smooths the surface that few persons, 

 on seeing the spot, could imagine any thing had been done to it' (Audubon). This accomplished, she 

 retreats speedily to the water, leaving the eggs to be hatched by the heat of the sun, which is generally 

 accomplished in about three weeks. Two or three times in the season does the female return to nearly 

 the same spot and deposit nearly the same number of eggs, so that the whole amount annually would be 

 four or five hundied ; and it is not a little singular that animals so low in the scale of creation should 

 have the instinct to return to these haunts from great distances- — hundreds, and even thousands of miles, 

 in some instances in three weeks. Dr. Sti'obel informed me that several Turtles were captured at 

 Tortugas, marked, and carried to Key "West, there confined in a turtle-pen or 'crawl,' which was 

 destroyed by a storm ; the animals escaped, and in a few days were recaptured at Tortugas. Diu-ing 

 the actual time of incubation. Turtles may be approached without caution ; for they are then so intent 

 on this work of reproduction that nothing will disturb them. 



"It is during the breeding-season that these animals suffer most from their enemies ; they are 

 then taken in a variety of ways, and are brought to our markets in immense numbers, being held in 

 high estimation as a wholesome and delicious food. Many are caught at night on shore ; these are 

 turned on their backs ; nor can they resume their natiu'al position, in consequence of the shortness of 

 their necks and the peculiar an-angement of their fins ; and thus they remain until they can be leisurely 

 collected the next day. Some are harpooned in the water ; and great nets are spread for others at the 

 entrance of creeks and rivers. Many are also taken by an instrument called a 2>^ff> wliich has been in 

 common use since the time of Catesby. 



"Audubon observes that he saw a man who, with his peff, had been known to secure eight hundred 

 Green Turtles in one year — an immense number, certainly. "When taken they are kept in pens, called 

 ' crawls,' that are so placed in the water as to be filled at every flood-tide ; and here they remain untU 

 sold. 



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