470 CHELONIANS. 



eggs are not large, in comparison to the size of the animal, and 

 not perfectly spherical, their orbicular outline being more or less 

 irregular." "I have no reason," he says, "to trust the reports 

 that they lay eggs more than once a year." Other writers, how. 

 ever, say "the process is repeated three times a year." The 

 eggs are almost unprotected by a shell, and hence it is necessary 

 that the sand in which they are laid to be hatched by the heat of 

 the sun, should be soft and movable. To obtain a suitable local- 

 ity for their eggs, they often travel many hundred leagues. As- 

 cension Island is to them a favorite place of resort. At the 

 breeding season the Turtle-fishery is carried on. The flesh 

 of the females is in the highest estimation, and at this sea- 

 son, it is supposed to possess its best quality. " The fish- 

 ers suddenly advance from their watching places, and despatch 

 the Turtles with clubs, or turn them quickly over upon their 

 backs, in doing which, it is often necessary to use levers, 

 several men at the same t;me combining their strength. A few 

 skillful men, in the course of three hours, may turn over, and 

 thus secure forty or fifty turtles." On the coast of Guiana, haul 

 nets are employed for the capture of these creatures. In the 

 Chinese and Indian seas, and also on the shores of Mozambique, 

 boatmen take them by availing themselves of the natural powers 

 and instincts of certain fishes, named poissons pecheurs, or Fish- 

 fishers. The Turtles are usually met with in the warm latitudes 

 of the ocean, and especially towards the torrid zone. 



FIRST FAMILY. Chetonioida. 



This family are characterized by having the carapace very 

 broad, more or less depressed, of a somewhat heart-shaped out- 

 line, covered with horny scales, and bordered by a distinct mar- 

 ginal rim ; also by having a flat nail on the thumb of each pad- 

 dle. Three well defined genera are found along the coast 

 of the .United States; the greatest difference between them 

 has relation to the structure of the mouth. Their food consists 

 of aquatic plants, sea-weeds, and the like. In size, they much 

 surpass the average size of the Amydce,', yet they are shy and 

 inoffensive, not biting when hard pressed, but striking with their 

 powerful flappers, and endeavoring to escape by quickening 

 their speed. They lay their eggs at the end of May or begin- 

 nina; of June. 



The GREEN or ESCULENT TURTLE, Chelonia mydas. is consid- 

 ered the most important of the Turtles, its flesh being in great 

 request as a luxury for the table, and as furnishing abundant and 



