The Sea Turtles 



is adapted to a life in the water, the plastron is soft and unsup- 

 ported; when placed upon it, the weight of the reptile so presses 

 against the under shell that it is forced against the lungs and 

 other internal organs; the turtle soon dies from an inability to 

 breathe. 



From a lot of turtles that had been shipped north and were 

 lying upon their backs for fully a week, the writer selected a 

 specimen weighing forty-five pounds and placed it in a large 

 tank containing manufactured salt water — enough salt added 

 to fresh water to give it a brackish taste. On the second day 

 in the tank the turtle began feeding, greedily taking large pieces 

 of raw fish; it also ate the commoner kinds of sea-weed. Under 

 these conditions it lived for nearly two years and would have 

 thrived longer had it not been attacked by a small crocodile. 

 The tank was ten feet long and eight feet wide and the animal 

 swam about freely and gracefully; its deliberate motions, slow 

 turns, the occasional stroke of the flippers and slow, gliding 

 progress, were movements strikingly suggestive of the leisurely 

 flight of a hawk or a turkey buzzard. The reptile seldom crawled 

 upon the bottom of the tank, but skimmed over the gravel by 

 a few inches; occasionally it came to the top, when it would 

 e.\pel the air in its lungs with a sharp hiss; the intake of air 

 was more leisurely. 



Of the sea turtles, the flesh of this species is most esteemed. 

 The shell is smooth, brightly marked and attractive, but of 

 practically no commercial value. 



THE HAWK'S-BILL TURTLE 



Chelonia imbricata, (Linn.) 



Distinguished from the other sea turtles by the loosely- 

 overlapping {imbricate) shields of the carapace. The structure 

 of the shields on the plastron is like that of the Green Turtle. 

 Head, limbs and flippers covered with shields; head elongated, 

 the upper mandible terminating in a pronounced hook or beak — 

 hence the popular name. (See accompanying illustration.) Two 

 claws on each front flipper. 



Colouration. — Carapace dark brown or black, richly marbled 

 with yellow; plastron yellow. .Shields of the head and limbs 

 dark brown or black, margined with yellow. 



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