72 



RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



The Leather-Backed Turtle. 



(SPHARGIS CORIACEA.) 



About the 30th of Julj', two schooners 

 sailing for sword-fish in the vicinity of South- 

 east Point, Block Island, captured, as the 

 correspondent of the Providence Journal 

 has it, " Two large sea animals, of a vari- 

 ety which no one at the island has ever 

 seen before." 



That anything marine could be brought 

 to that port and not find a name, led to 

 some rather wild conjectures, such as the 

 possibilit}- of a hybrid between a seal and 

 a turtle, a new variet}^ of aquatic life, or 

 even an unknown species, and the new ar- 

 rivals were visited by man}' experts who 

 named them everything from a gopher to a 

 box-tortoise. The very good general de- 

 scription given by the Journal correspond- 

 ent, which I take the liberty to reprint, 

 stamped them at once as, " Luths," "Trunk 

 Turtles," or " Leather-backed Turtles." " At 

 length the prize was hoisted upon the deck 

 of the schooner, where he made frantic ef- 

 forts to escape and pounded heavily with 

 his huge flukes. As he lay he measured five 

 feet ten inches in length with his head drawn 

 back as far as possible, with a spread of six 

 feet eleven inches to the forward flukes or 

 flippers, and of three feet ten inches to those 

 next the short, blunt tail. P'rom back to 

 breast his body is twenty inches in diameter, 

 and two feet six inches from side to side. 

 His head, which resembles that of a seal in 

 shape, with similar nostrils, skin, and weep- 

 ing eyes, but lacking hairs, is nine inches 

 wide and eight inches deep or thick just 

 back of the eyes. The head cannot be 

 drawn within the shell, as in the case of 

 turtles. The upper jaw resembles that of a 

 turtle in shape, but is cartilaginous. The 

 lower jaw is like that of a turtle in shape, 

 but is not hard. The neck is very full and 

 muscular. He inflates his throat like a frog, 

 and then expels the air after from half a 

 minute to two or three minutes with a puflf- 

 ing, blowing sound. Plis shoulders, strong, 

 round, and full, are twelve inches in diam- 

 eter. His forward flukes are two feet six 

 inches long, eleven inches wide, and from 

 one-half of an inch to three inches thick. 

 He moves them much as a bird moves its 



wings ; indeed, the captain sa3's he moved 

 in the water like a bird flying rather than 

 like a fish swimming. His strength may be 

 judged from the fact that once, as he turned, 

 a fluke struck a bundle of 2o0 shingles and 

 sent it sliding as if it had beeii a feather. 

 Instead of a shell under the body there is a 

 kind of plate or rather strong cartilage. 

 The shield which covers the back is sugges- 

 tive of that of a turtle, but differs in two re- 

 spects. It is not so hard, seeming like very 

 hard rubber. This creature has no scales, 

 but has its covering arranged like planks, 

 six in number, each six inches wide, with 

 the rear ends narrowed to conform to the 

 shape of the animal. Instead of cracks de- 

 pressed between the planks, there are ridges 

 raised above between the longitudinal sec- 

 tions of the shield. There are six sections 

 and seven ridges. The shape is almost ex- 

 actly that of the shield on which the God- 

 ess of Libert}' leans on coins. His skin 

 is mottled, a mixture of yellow, pink, and 

 dark blue black, the last the predominant 

 color. A few barnacles were on the neck 

 and back. The expression of the face is 

 mild, and he seems to be gentle in disposi- 

 tion, making no effort to injure those around 

 him, but tr3ing rather to get awa}'." 



The museum of Brown University of Prov- 

 idence has a specimen, taken some 3'ears 

 since in Rhode Island waters, one has been 

 captured near Portland, Me., and one taken 

 in 1880 near Cape Ann, is reported to have 

 made soup equal to that of the green tur- 

 tle. Specimens will frequentl}' weigh one 

 thousand pounds, and their capture is re- 

 ported from the temperate and tropical 

 waters of all oceans and the Mediterranean 

 Sea. 



The creature represents in the at present 

 accepted arrangement of zoological speci- 

 mens, a family, a genus, and a species com- 

 bined, which goes to make a good specimen 

 a very desirable adjunct to any museum, 

 the quoted price for such, being about $175. 



They are, however, very ditficult to pre- 

 serve properlj'. In this connection it is un- 

 fortunate that these creatures, having died, 

 were sunk in deep water, onl}'^ one plastron 

 (or back) a very useless part being re- 

 tained. If it was necessary to be rid of dis- 

 agreeable odors they might have been 

 anchored just be3'ond low tide, for a little 

 time, or at least the head preserved. 



