60 Naturalist at Large 



about its eyes offered no such protection and the blind 

 gulps were to protect these areas. 



The loggerhead, not being fit to eat, is still an abundant 

 sea turtle all through the West Indian area. Green turtles 

 have grown scarce because they have been hunted so 

 constantly. They are brought to Limon in Costa Rica for 

 shipment to the aldermen's feasts in London, being carried 

 in individual tanks on the forward deck of the Fruit liners 

 crossing the ocean. Kindhearted persons often are hurt by 

 seeing the turtles kept lying on their backs. They little 

 realize that if they were kept lying plastron down, which 

 would be their natural position, they would soon die, the 

 lower shell being weakly constructed and incapable of 

 long supporting the weight of the turtles. I am sure this 

 would not apply to small individuals, but I have been in- 

 formed by many turtlers that it is dangerous to leave big, 

 heavy turtles on their stomachs for very long. 



Once, climbing up a high cliff overlooking clear, still 

 water along the shore of New Providence Island, I fright- 

 ened two turtles which had been grazing on seaweeds on 

 the bottom quite close to shore. One was a green turtle 

 and one a so-called Ridley, another species altogether. Both 

 turtles raced away, the green turtle quite deliberately and 

 the Ridley with an astounding burst of speed. My friend 

 Dr. Archie F. Carr, Jr., of the University of Florida, who 

 is an authority on turtles, has noticed this same fact on a 

 number of occasions, and he tells me that, unlike all other 

 sea turtles, the Ridley when brought ashore snaps about 

 in such a blind rage that it tires itself out and would 

 probably fidget and worry itself to death in a short time 

 if allowed to do so. Sea turtles are fascinating critters 



