LECTURE VII. 19 



in the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas, and about 

 some of the African coasts. A most magnificent 

 specimen taken on the English coasts is pre- 

 served in the Lever ian Museum. 



The Green or Edible Turtle, which is the 

 T. Mydas of Linnaeus, grows also to a very large 

 size; often measuring more than five feet in 

 length, and weighing five or six hundred pounds. 

 Its colour is a dull palish brown, with a few 

 dusky variegations. The introduction of this 

 animal as an article of luxury into England is 

 of no very distant date, and can perhaps hardly 

 be traced much farther than about fifty or sixty 

 years backward. They are chiefly found about 

 the Bahama islands, and seem to feed chiefly 

 on marine vegetables, from which their fat ac- 

 quires the greenish colour which gives name to 

 the animal. 



The T. Caret t a of Linnaeus or the Loggerhead 

 Turtle, is of at least equal size to the former, 

 and often superior: its colours are beautiful, hav- 

 ing a finely variegated shell, but the horny pieces 

 or divisions are too thin for the purposes of the 

 artificers in tortoise-shell, and are therefore neg- 

 lected in trade : as a species it may be distin- 



