Chap. 14.] DISTRIBUTION OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 379 



year. Some persons are of opinion that they hatch their eggs 

 by means of the eyes, by merely looking at them, and that the 

 female refuses to have any intercourse with the male until he 

 has placed a wisp of straw 2 upon her back. The TroglodytaB 

 have turtles with horns, 3 which resemble the branches of a 

 lyre ; they are large, but moveable, and assist the animal like so 

 many oars while swimming. The name of this fine, but rarely- 

 found turtle, is "chelyon;" 4 for the rocks, from the sharp- 

 ness of their points, frighten away the Chelonophagi, 5 while 

 the Troglodytae, whose shores these animals frequent, worship 

 them as sacred. There are some land turtles also, the shells 

 of which, used for the purposes of art, are thence called by 

 the name of " chersinae ;" 6 they are found in the deserts of 

 Africa, in the parts where the scorched sands are more espe- 

 cially destitute of water, and subsist, it is believed, upon the 

 moisture of the dews, ^o other animal is to be found there. 



CHAP. 13. (11.) WHO FIRST INVENTED THE ART OF CUTTING 

 TORTOISE-SHELL. 



Carvilius Pollio, a man of prodigal habits and ingenious in 

 inventing the refinements of luxury, was the first to cut the 

 shell of the tortoise into laminae, and to veneer beds and cabi- 

 nets 7 with it. 



CHAP. 14. (12.) DISTRIBUTION OF AQUATIC ANIMALS INTO 



VARIOUS SPECIES. 



The integuments of the aquatic animals are many in num- 



2 Oppian, Halieut. B. i. 1. 522, has a passage to a somewhat similar 

 effect. Holland's notion of the meaning of this passage is singular in the 

 extreme. " The female fleeth from the male, and will not abide to engen- 

 der, until such time as he pricke her behind, and sticke somewhat in her 

 taile for running away from him so fast" 



3 Cuvier remarks, that it is evident that the fore-feet were here taken for 

 horns, they being in the turtle long, narrow, and pointed. 



4 From the Greek x\voi?, "tortoise-shell." See B. vi. c. 34. 



5 Or " turtle eaters." See B. vi. c. 28. 



6 From xcpffivth. "land turtles," or "tortoises." 



7 " Eepositorium " seems to have been the name for a large tray upon 

 which viands were brought to table ; and probably for stands similar to 

 our sideboards, as well as cabinets or wardrobes. Carvilius Pollio, a 

 Roman eques, lived in the time of the Dictator Sylla, and was celebrated 

 for his luxury in ornamental furniture. He is again mentioned by Pliny 

 iu B. xxx. c. 51, 



