CHORDATA 



but extend into temperate zones as well ; the land tortoises sL 

 during the dry season in hot countries, in cold countries turtles 

 hibernate like the snakes and amphibians. These animals grow 

 slowly, and live to a great age unless killed by violence; many 

 attain sexual maturity only after a number of years, and one 

 female is reported to have laid eggs for the first time when 

 eleven years of age. 



The largest turtles are marine. The largest of all is the 

 leather back, which attains a length of nearly two meters, and 

 a weight of seven hundred and fifty kilos. Its appendages 

 are paddle-like. Instead of a horny epidermis, it has a thick, 

 leather-like skin. Its eggs have a diameter of four centimeters 

 and are considered very palatable ; the flesh is said to be less so. 

 There is only a single representative of this kind of turtle, one 

 genus and one species, but it is widely distributed, living in the 

 Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans and in the Mediterranean. 

 The hawkbill turtles are small marine Chelonia, one species 

 occurring on the eastern coast of the United States ; the old 

 individuals contribute a good quality of tortoise'shell. The flesh 

 of the hawkbills, as well as of the much larger American logger- 

 head, is inferior as food, but the eggs are very good and much 

 sought after. The best marine turtle for food is the green 

 turtle, Chelonia midas, found along the American coast from 

 southern Brazil to Cape Hatteras ; they are vegetarians, and 

 may attain a weight of four hundred and twenty-five kilos. 

 The females crawl up on the sandy beaches at night and make 

 a hollow excavation, in which they deposit their eggs and then 

 cover them with sand ; as they return to the same place several 

 times at intervals of about two weeks to deposit eggs, the 

 fishermen discover them by their tracks, and, lying in wait, when 

 they appear, turn them on their backs, and later drag them 

 away at their leisure, for these large turtles when on their backs 

 on land cannot turn over. 



There is a fresh-water turtle whose shell is nearly circular 

 and about half a meter in diameter, called the soft-shelled 

 turtle; its flesh is much sought after, as it is said to be superior 

 even to that of the green turtle. All the so-called fresh-water 

 turtles of the globe have been classed in the family Emydidae ; 

 the toes may be distinct or webbed, according as they are mosl 



