2440 



TORTOISES, TURTLES, AND PLESIOSAURS 



life. In the young, the carapace shows a faint median keel, while its hinder margin 

 is at most but feebly serrated at all ages. Generally there is but a single claw on 

 each paddle, although, in some instances, young specimens also have a claw on the 

 second digit. In color, the shell of the adult is olive or brown, with yellowish 

 spots or marblings; while in the young it is uniform dark brown or olive above, 

 and yellow beneath, the limbs being bordered with yellow on the upper surface, and 

 inferiorly yellow with a brown spot near the extremity. The food of the species 

 consists of seaweeds, especially the seawrack, upon which the turtles graze at the 

 bottom of the water, rising occasionally to the surface to breathe. 



HAWKSBIU, TURTLES SWIMMING. 



(One-twentieth natural size.) 



Generally rejected as food, the havvksbill turtle (C. imbricata) en- 

 Hawksbill . . , 



Turtle J0ys tnereb y no respite from persecution, since it is eagerly hunted for 



the beautifully-mottled horny shields of its shell, which are the sole 

 source of the tortoise shell of commerce. In its young state, the hawksbill may be 

 readily distinguished from the preceding species by the circumstance that the horny 

 shields on the back of the three-ridged shell overlap one another like the tiles on a 

 roof. With advancing age the shields gradually, however, become smooth, and in 

 very old specimens they meet at their edges, as in other members of the order. At 



