CHELONIA. 15 



hold. Schoepff reared several individuals of this 

 species in a chamber. They always looked out for 

 the most gloomy corners, and concealed themselves 

 in the ashes of the chimney."* Its flesh is much 

 esteemed. 



Chelonia,-\ the Turtle. 



The bony armour in the Sea-tortoises, or Turtles, 

 is not large enough to allow the head and feet to 

 be withdrawn ; the feet being very long, especially 

 the fore ones, and flattened so as to resemble fins, 

 of which they perform the office. The toes are all 

 enveloped in a common membrane, and only two are 

 furnished with nails, one of which is often wanting. 

 The plates of the sternum are separated by spaces 

 filled with cartilage. The body is flattened, so as 

 to pass more swiftly through the water, and some 

 species are said to resemble in the celerity and the 

 ease of their motion the progress of a bird in the 

 air. 



The Green Turtle, (C. My das,} the species so 

 highly prized at civic feasts for the delicate flavour 

 of its flesh and fat, is found about the tropical 

 shores of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and par- 

 ticularly in the West Indies. To the little unin- 

 habited islets of sand, keys, as they are called, which 

 are so numerous on the Florida Reef, these Turtles 

 with other species resort in vast numbers to lay their 



* Griffith's Cuvier, 1831, vol. ix. p. 80. 

 j, cftelone, a sea-tortoise. 



