THE GREEN TURTLE. 



General length Remarkable strength. 



kind for that which is afforded in such plenty to 

 them all. Being able, like the other species of 

 amphibia, to live even for many months without 

 food, they flock peace'ably together; yet they do 

 not appear, like many other herding animals, to 

 have any kind of association, but merely collect, 

 as if by accident. 



The length of these turtles is often five feet or 

 upwards, and they sometimes exceed five or six 

 hundred pounds in weight. They are so remark- 

 ably strong> that they can move along with as 

 many men on its back as can stand there. Their 

 legs are so far fin-shaped as to be of little other 

 use than to swim with. Their shell is broader 

 before than behind, where it is somewhat point-' 

 ed. It consists of thirteen brownish divisions^ 

 surrounded by twenty-five marginal ones. The 

 mouth is so large as to open beyond the ears on 

 each side ; this is not armed with teeth, but the 

 bones of which the jaws are composed are very 

 hard and strong, and furnished with points or 

 asperities that serve in some degree the same 

 purpose. With these powerful jaws theybrouse 

 on the grass, sea weedy and other plants which 

 grow on the shoals and sand-banks, and with 

 them they are likewise able to crush the shelW 

 fish on which they sometimes feed. When satis- 

 fied they often retire to the fresh water, at the 

 mouth of the great rivers, where they float on 

 the surface, holding their heads above water, 

 apparently for the purpose of breathing the fresh 

 VOL. vi, NO. 38. u 



