IMBRICATED TURTLE. 91 



other kind, constituting the sole value of the ani- 

 mal, and affording the substance particularly 

 known by the name of tortoise-shell : they are se- 

 mi transparent, and most elegantly variegated 

 with whitish, yellowish, reddish, and dark brown 

 clouds and undulations, so as to constitute, when 

 properly prepared and polished, one of the most 

 elegant articles for ornamental purposes. 



The natural or general number of the dorsal 

 pieces is thirteen ; the marginal row consisting of 

 twenty-five smaller pieces. This external coating 

 is raised or separated from the bony part, which 

 it covers, by placing fire beneath the shell ; the 

 heat soon causing the plates to start, so as to be 

 easily detached from the bone. These plates vary 

 in thickness, according to the age and size of the 

 animal, and measure from an eighth to a quarter of 

 an inch in thickness. A large turtle is said to 

 afford about eight* pounds of tortoise-shell. 



In order to bring tortoise-shell into the parti- 

 cular form required on the part of the artist, it is 

 steeped in boiling water, till it has acquired a pro- 

 per degree of softness, and immediately afterwards 

 committed to the pressure of a strong metallic 

 mould of the figure required ; and where it is ne- 

 cessary that pieces should be joined, so as to com- 

 pose a surface of considerable extent, the edges 

 of the respective pieces are first scraped or thinned, 

 and being laid over each other during their heated 



* According to Mr. Schoepf, from five to fifteen or twenty 

 pounds ; and unless the animal itself be about the weight of a 

 hundred and fifty pounds, the shell ia not worth much. 



