CHAPTER XV 



Marine Turtles and Terrapins ^ 



OF all living animals none is quite so suggestive 

 of the large, clumsy, lumbering creatures of 

 prehistoric times as the turtles, terrapins, 

 and tortoises. Some of the turtles and tortoises still 

 attain a large size, for the leather-turtle reaches a 

 weight of more than a thousand pounds, and the 

 loggerhead and green turtles about half that weight. 

 The terrapins, however, are small, rarely exceeding a 

 weight of ten to fifteen pounds. In clumsiness and 

 awkwardness they are nevertheless quite the equal of 

 their larger relatives. 



The turtles, terrapins, and tortoises differ from 

 all other living reptiles in possessing a hard shell 

 which forms a strong bony "house" in which they 

 live, and from which the head and limbs are extended 

 when they are moving about. It is indeed very con- 

 venient to have a house always present into which to 

 retreat when the day's work is done or when an 

 enemy is near. When danger is past and hunger calls, 

 it is necessary only to extend the head and legs, and 

 the hunt is on once more. These animals, as a result 



' This section was prepared by Dr. Samuel F. Hildebrand, di- 

 rector of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries Biological Station, Beau- 

 fort, North Carolina. 



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