SEALS. 177 



huge " sea-lions," or eared seals (Otaria), from the 

 South Pacific. 



The reptilia are not difficult to keep under the 

 artificial conditions of aquarian life, owing to their 

 more sluggish habits. Alligators and crocodiles need 

 darker retreats. At Southport, Manchester, and 

 Brighton, several species of alligators are exhibited, 

 in water cages provided for the purpose. They are 

 fed with a pair of forceps, and take their food without 

 any demurrance to the artificial conditions under 

 which it is offered to them. A living gigantic edible 

 turtle one of the few marine reptiles surviving out 

 of the host of extinct forms which swarmed the seas 

 in the oolitic period was presented by Her Majesty 

 the Queen to the Brighton Aquarium in 1875, and, 

 we believe, is still kept there. It weighs no less than 

 3 cwt., and will be easily recognised by the familiar 

 plastron or shield on which many spectators have often 

 seen chalked the words, " For soup to-day ! " in the 

 London streets. Another species of turtle is that 

 called the "hawk's-bill" (Chelonia imbricatd). Although 

 in reality a native of the more southerly parts of the 

 Atlantic, this species is occasionally found straying 

 into British waters. It is much smaller than the edible 

 turtle, with the plates of its shield overlapping, hence its 

 specific name. It is these plates that, when polished, go 

 by the name of " tortoise-shell.'* As regards its diet, 

 it is almost omnivorous, as its strong hawk-like beak 

 indicates, when compared with the weaker mandibles 



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