TURTLES. 45 



The carapace is large, flat, and heart-shaped, 

 composed of thirteen discal plates, and twenty- 

 five marginal ones ; the hinder margins of these 

 are free, and overlap the succeeding plates, for 

 nearly a third of their length; the muzzle is 

 long and somewhat compressed ; the jaws have 

 straight edges, neither notched nor toothed, but 

 curving towards each other at the extremities, 

 where the lower shuts within the upper ; each 

 fin is furnished with two nails. 



The fore-feet or paddles are larger in these 

 species than in the rest of the Family, and it is 

 said that the Hawksbill, unlike the Green Turtle, 

 which is helpless when turned over on its back, 

 can, by means of its long feet, recover its proper 

 position. 



The Hawksbill commonly grows to the length 

 of three feet, and the width of two, but speci- 

 mens are reported to have been seen of much 

 greater size. Its flesh is of no estimation as 

 food, being both ill-flavoured and unwholesome ; 

 its eggs, however, are highly valued. The species 

 is not unimportant notwithstanding, for it pro- 

 duces almost exclusively that well knowii and 

 beautiful material, so much used in ^the arts, 

 called Tortoise-shell. In the luxurious ages of 

 ancient Grecian and Roman art, this elegant 

 substance was employed in embellishing articles 

 of use and ornament, perhaps more copiously 

 than \yiih us ; for they decorated their doors, the 

 pillars of their houses, their beds, and the statues 

 of their gods with it. Velleius Paterculus relates 

 that when the city of Alexandria in Egypt was 

 taken by Julius Caesar, the warehouses were found 

 to contain so large a quantity of this material. 



