AUTHOR 8 ABSTRACT OF THIS PAPER ISSUED 

 BY THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVICE, JULY 24 



THE CRAWLING OF YOUNG LOGGERHEAD TURTLES 

 TOWARD THE SEA 



G. H. PARKER 



Zoological Laboratory, Harvard University 



It is difficult to imagine a more striking and invariable reaction 

 among higher animals than the crawling of newly hatched logger- 

 head tm'tles (Caretta caretta Linn.) toward the sea. For a long 

 time this response has excited the interest of field naturalists, 

 and within recent years it has been studied with especial care 

 by Hooker ('08 a, '08 b, '09, '11) and commented upon by INIayer 

 ('09, p. 121), To see a dozen of these newly hatched creatures, 

 that have had no previous experience with the ocean, scramble 

 toward it, notwithstanding that it may not be within the range 

 of their vision, is a sight never to be forgotten. Any attempt on 

 the part of an observer to check them in their course seems only 

 to excite them to further effort which does not cease till they have 

 reached the water. To the observer they seem to be drawn 

 toward the sea by an influence as mystical as it is impelling. 



On July 5th a considerable number of these turtles were hatched 

 at the Miami Aquarium, Miami Beach, Florida, and it was here 

 that I had an opportunity of studying their reactions not only on 

 the day of hatching, but also over a subsequent period of a week 

 or so. My thanks are due to the officers of the Miami Aquarium 

 Association for the privilege of working at the aquarium labora- 

 tory and for their generosity in providing me with all that was 

 necessary for my investigations. 



After my attention had been called to the remarkable regularity 

 with w^hich the young turtles on the aquarium wharf went toward 

 the water, I began some more or less systematic observations and 

 experiments. A piece of smooth paper-board, about a meter 

 square, was laid down horizontally on the wharf and surrounded 

 on all four sides by a low wooden fence some 15 cm. high. At the 



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