33 



MARINE TORTOISES. 



The head is also larger, and its colour is brown or deep chestnut. 

 It inhabits the Mediterranean, as well as the Atlantic ocean ; it 

 does not attain the same size as the preceding. Its length is about 

 four feet, and its weight from three to four hundred pounds. It 

 is very voracious ; its food consists chiefly of mollusks, and its 

 flesh is not good. Its fat is burned for light. 



Fig. 9. 34. The Hawks-bill Turtle (the 



Caret) Tcstudo imbricata, ( Fig. 

 9.) is the most' interesting species 

 of this genus ; because it furnishes 

 the tortoise shell. It is readily dis- 

 tinguished by the arrangement of 

 the horny plates of its carapax, 

 which, in place of being simply 

 joined together, are extended back- 

 wards, one over the other like the 

 tiles or shingles of a roof; we count 

 fifteen on the disk ; the colour is yel- 

 lowish marble with a deep brown. 

 The jaws are strong, elongated and 

 curved towards the extremity, but 

 without teeth on the edges ; the ex- 

 tremities or fins, like those of the caouane, are provided with two 

 nails, while in the Green Tortoise there is but one. Its size 

 scarcely exceeds one third of that of the last named Chelonian ; it 

 feeds chiefly on marine plants, but also eats Crustacea, mollusca, 

 and small fishes. It is met in the Indian ocean as well as in the 

 American seas, and, in the laying season, resorts to the same 

 localities as the preceding species. At the Tortugas, for example, 

 it arrives in June, and lays a second time in August. The total 

 number of its eggs is about two hundred : they are said to be 

 good food ; but the flesh of this Tortoise is bad, and it is only on 

 account of its shell that it is sought. 



35. The scale or shell which covers the carapax of the Hawks- 

 bill is a substance which is extremely analogous to horn, but 

 which is neither fibrous nor lamellar like it ; it is as transparent ; 

 its hardness is greater, and it is capable of receiving and preser- 

 ving the most beautiful polish ; and it is very much esteemed in 

 the manufacture of toys, &c. Each one of these Tortoises fur- 

 nishes, on an average, from three to four pounds of these large 

 scales, and to detach them, it is only necessary to expose the 

 carapax before burning coals. It is' brought to market without 



34. What is ihe Hawks-bill Turtle? For what is it most valued ? 



35. What is To: toise shell ? How is it obtained ? 



