6 CHELONIAD.^. 



Each Turtle has generally three layings in the season, at 

 intervals of two or three weeks. The eggs are perfectly 

 round, varying from two to three inches in diameter. The 

 external membrane is flexible, very white, and contains a 

 considerable quantity of calcareous matter. The yolk forms 

 in general an exceedingly delicate article of food ; but that 

 of the Loggerhead Turtle has a somewhat musky flavour. 



When the young ones are hatched, which takes place from 

 a fortnight to three weeks after the eggs are deposited, ac- 

 cording to the temperature, they have only that central part 

 of each scale or plate formed which is termed the areola ; 

 and all the concentric layers which in advanced age are seen 

 to constitute the principal part of the plates are added after- 

 wards at their margins. The shell is soft, and affords them 

 but little protection from the attacks of their numerous ene- 

 mies. In their attempts to gain the water for the first time, 

 numbers of them fall a prey to birds of various kinds ; and of 

 those which are fortunate enough to escape from this danger, 

 probably the greater part are seized and devoured by shoals 

 of fish and of crocodiles. 



The different species of marine Turtles are found in all the 

 seas of hot climates, and they are only seen in considerable 

 numbers within a certain distance from the land. About the 

 shores of several of the West India Islands, " Cuba, Jamaica, 

 St. Domingo ; in the Atlantic, at the Cape de Verde and 

 Ascension Islands ; again, in the Indian Ocean, at the Isle of 

 France, Madagascar, the Seychelles, &c. ; at Vera Cruz, in 

 the Gulf of Mexico, and at the Sandwich and Gallapagos 

 Islands, in the Pacific,"* they are found in the greatest 

 abundance. 



It is unnecessary, and it would be out of place here, to 

 enter at large upon the particular history of the different 

 species. Every one knows the value of the Green Turtle, 



* Dumeril et Bibron, Hist, des Rept. II. p. 520. 



