CAPTURING TURTLES. l6l 



homogeneous ; it can be cut with precision ; and, under the influence 

 of a gentle her.t, will soften so that it can be modelled into any 

 fashion dictated by the taste of the moulder ; which shape it retains 

 after becoming cool. 



While most of the Turtles are highly useful to man, both for food 

 and other purposes, the most valuable is the Green Turtle (Chelonia 

 midas, Fig. 38), so called from the reflected green of its carapace. 

 It abounds in the southern Atlantic Ocean, only visiting land in the 

 breeding seasons, when it shows a marked preference for the islands 

 of Ascension and St. Vincent. When sleeping on the surface of 

 the sea, it is easily taken by a noose being placed over its head as 

 the boat containing the captors silently glides past. It is even said 

 to be a practice with Malay fishermen to dive beneath a sleeping 

 turtle, and, attaching a cord to its flippers, capture it. 



In the regions where this valuable animal breeds, their pursuers 

 follow them by their track on the sands, cut off their retreat, and 

 throw them on their backs ; from their great size, hand-spikes some- 

 times being necessary to accomplish this. In this position they are 

 helpless, and so remain while their enemies continue their sport, 

 as represented in PLATE III. In 1802 the crew of a French ship 

 surprised a female turtle on the Island of Lobos. The men had 

 infinite trouble in making good its capture and throwing it on its 

 back, from its immense size and strength. Its head was as large as 

 that of an infant, and its beak four times the size of a macaw's. In 

 its body 347 eggs were found. Turtles are also taken in nets, their 

 beaks and flippers getting entangled in the meshes ; thus prevented 

 from coming to the surface for air, they die of asphyxia. Others 

 harpoon them on the open sea. The harpoon is attached to a cord, 

 by which the animal is soon brought to the surface and drawn on 

 board. But the commonest mode of capture is approaching them 

 silently in a boat as they float asleep. When within reach, a hind 

 flipper is laid hold of by one of the crew, and by a sudden twist the 

 turtle is thrown on its back, when, becoming helpless for the moment, 

 it is dragged on board. 



A very curious mode of fishing for turtle is pursued by means 

 of a species of Echineis remora. These small fish are provided 

 with an oval plate on the head, which consists of a score of parallel 

 plates, forming two series, furnished on their outer edge with an oval 

 disc, soft and fleshy at its circumference \ in the middle of this plate 

 is a complicated apparatus of bony pieces dispersed across the 

 surface, which can be moved on their axis by particular muscles, 

 their free edges being furnished with small hooks, which are all 

 80 



