524 



Reptiles. 



THE LEATHERY TURTLE, (Splmrgis coriacea,) 



HAS its back covered with a sort of leathery skin, 

 instead of the horny plates of the other turtles. It is 

 a very large species, measuring eight feet or more in 

 length, and weighing as much as a thousand pounds. 

 It is chiefly found in the Mediterranean ; it is, however, 

 occasionally found on the other coasts of Europe, and a 

 few specimens, some of them weighing seven or eight 

 hundred pounds, have been caught in England. The 

 flesh is not considered good, and in some cases great 

 suffering has been occasioned by eating it. In 1748, a 

 Leathery Turtle, which had been caught near Scar- 

 borough, was purchased by a gentleman, who invited 

 several friends to taste it. Though warned that the 

 flesh was unwholesome, one of the guests ate some, but 

 was seized soon after with dreadful sickness. This 

 should be a warning to the curious to be careful how 

 they " eat strange flesh." 



