172 A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SEAS 



it has the feet developed into paddle-shaped nippers 

 devoid of claws, giving the animal great swimming powers 

 and enabling it to venture far out to sea. 



The Leathery Turtle is the only representative of the 

 family Sphargidae, and is the largest of living Chelonians. 

 It differs from all other Turtles, Terrapins and Tortoises 

 in its vertebras and ribs being entirely free and not fused 

 with the carapace. The body is protected by a shield 

 of mosaic-like bony plates and this is covered with a thick 

 layer of leathery skin, which in adult specimens is perfectly 

 smooth. In colour it is dark brown, more or less distinctly 

 spotted with yellow. The Leathery Turtle though smaller 

 than some extinct species is now the giant of its race, its 

 shell sometimes measuring 4I ft. in length. The animal 

 may attain 6 ft. overall, with a span of 10 ft. across the 

 fore-flippers, and a weight of half a ton. 



It is almost carnivorous, feeding on molluscs and 

 crustaceans and is confined to the tropic seas of the New 

 World. This Turtle is of no market value, many regarding 

 the flesh as definitely unwholesome, so that it suffers little 

 molestation even when in spring it comes ashore off the 

 northern coast of Brazil, where, like other Turtles, it 

 buries some hundreds of eggs in the sand. 



Before laying, a depression is made, the eggs being 

 placed in it and afterwards covered by a scythe-like move- 

 ment of the flippers. In the breeding season some hundreds 

 of Turtles may struggle far up the beach, their bodies 

 making deep parallel furrows as though a huge plough 

 had been at work. Like most young Reptiles, the newly- 

 hatched Turtles are miniature replicas of their parents. 

 Their journey down to the sea is a hazardous one, large 



