REPTILIA — TORTOISE.. .TURTLE. 689 



The eggs of all the tortoise kind, like those of birds, are furnished with a 

 yolk and a white ; but the shell is different, being somewhat like those soft 

 eggs that hens exclude before their time ; however, this shell is much thicker 

 and stronger, and is a longer time in coming to maturity in the womb. The 

 land tortoise lays but a few in number, if compared to the sea turtle, who 

 deposits from a hundred and fifty to two hundred in a season. 



The amount of the land tortoise's eggs we have not been able to learn ; 

 but, from the scarceness of the animal, we are apt to think they cannot be 

 very numerous. When ii prepares to lay, the female scratches a slight de- 

 pression in the earth, generally in a warm situation, where the beams of the 

 sun have their full effect. There depositing her eggs, and covering them 

 with grass and leaves, she forsakes them, to be hatched by the heat of the 

 season. The young tortoises are generally excluded in about twenty-six 

 days ; but, as the heat of the weather assists, or its coldness retards, incu- 

 bation, sometimes it happens that there is a difference of two or three days. 

 The little animals no sooner leave the egg, than they seek for their provi- 

 sion, entirely self-taught; and their shell, with which they are covered from 

 the beginning, expands and. grows larger with age. As it is composed of a 

 variety of pieces, they are all capable of extension at their sutures; and the 

 shell admits of increase in every direction. 



It is common enough to take these animals into gardens, as they are 

 thought to destroy insects and snails in great abundance. We are even told 

 that, in hot countries, they are admitted into a domestic state, as thev are 

 great destroyers of bugs. 



THE SEA TORTOISE, OR TURTLE,! 

 As it is now called, is generally found larger than the former. 



THE GREAT MEDITERRANEAN TURTLE' 



Is the largest of the turtle kind with which we are acquainted. It is found 

 from five to eight feet long, and from six to nine hundred pounds weight 

 but, unluckily, its utility bears no proportion to its size, as it is unfit for food 

 and sometimes poisons those who eat it. The shell also, which is a tough 

 strong integument, resembling a hide, is unfit for all serviceable purposes. 



1 The jenus Chelonia has the feet flattened into scaly fins ; toes unequal, elongated, 

 scaly, and united by a membrane, with very small nails upon their exterior border, termi- 

 nated by scaly laminae. 



* Chelonia coriacca, Cuv. 



87 53* 



