280 THE WEALTH OF THE SEA 



very great. Fortunately they can live for a long time 

 without eating, and should they not succeed in find- 

 ing food for a week or two, or even a month or two, 

 they apparently do not suffer greatly. Their chief 

 problem seemingly is to keep out of reach of enemies. 



Turtles and terrapins are skilful in hiding their 

 nests. However, when the tracks are discovered by 

 men who make a practice of hunting the eggs of 

 turtles, they are able to locate the nests by probing 

 the sand with a cane until the place is found where it 

 is still loose, because it was dug up recently. Here 

 they dig down and gather the eggs. The egg hunters 

 are mainly responsible for the ever decreasing num- 

 bers of turtles found along our shores. 



The green turtle is the only one of the turtles 

 whose flesh is extensively eaten. The loggerhead is 

 eaten by fishermen and others living on the sea-shore 

 where it is caught, though it is rarely shipped to the 

 larger markets. The meat of the hawk's-bill turtle is 

 rarely if ever eaten, but this animal furnishes the 

 valuable tortoise-shell of commerce. The marine 

 terrapins, that is, the diamond-backs, possess meat 

 which is unexcelled in flavor and has for many years 

 been a much prized delicacy of the connoisseur. 



The Green Turtle and the Fishery It Supports 



The green turtle is an inhabitant of tropical seas. 

 On the Atlantic coast of America it occasionally 

 strays north as far as Massachusetts. Because of the 

 demand for its flesh and eggs it has been over- 

 fished and the number now taken on our shores is 

 very small. At present the principal fisheries for the 



