1 6: 



REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



raised at once, like the points of a wool-card. When the fishermen 

 see a sleeping turtle they approach it, and throw into the sea one 

 of these Remora, which dives under the turtle, and fixes itself to it by 

 means of their cephalic disc. As the fish is attached to a Icng cord 

 by means of a ring in its tail, it is drawn on board along with its 

 victim. 



The Green Turtle is that from which turtle soup, celebrated for 

 its delicacy and excellence, is made. This dish is of modern in- 



ig- 39 Hawk's-bill Turtle. 



vention, the first turtle having been brought to London by Admiral 

 Anson in 1752. It was long very costly, and even is now, although 

 considerably modified by the introduction of steam and other adjuncts 

 to navigation. 



Much of the tortoise-shell of commerce comes from the Green 

 Turtle, but by far the finest is produced by the Hawk's-bill Turtle 

 (Chelonia imbricata, Fig. 39). In this species the plates of the disc, 

 thirteen in number, are imbricated, or lapping over each other. The 

 muzzle is long and compressed ; the jaws with straight edges, with- 

 out dentation, curving slightly towards each other at their extremities, 

 with two nails on each fin. It rarely attains the size or weight of the 



