THE HAWK'S-BILL TURTLE. 259 



hatched, the young Turtles are lively enough, and are great gormandisers ; they use their fore limbs 

 not only in swimming, but also in tearing their food, so as to assist the mouth. 



The young are hatched in from eighteen to thirty days, and make their way at once to the sea, 

 being, however, in great danger from many enemies until they reach it, and even then they are preyed 

 upon by Turtle-loving marine creatures. The number which do escape and live must be very great, 

 for the extent of the shores of the Atlantic and of the islands of that ocean visited by laying Turtles 

 is enormous. 



Audubon described the life of the Turtles during their egg-laying at the Tortugas, a group of 

 islands about eighty miles from the coast of Florida. After noticing their circumspect approach during 

 the moonlight nights to the shore, and their crawling motion up the beach, he says that the Turtles 

 raise the head to the full stretch of the neck, and after gazing around, form a hole in the sand with 

 the hind nippers, using them as ladles, and casting the earth forth for several feet. This may not go 

 on perhaps for more than nine minutes, and then the eggs are dropped in regular layers, to the number 

 of from 1 50 to 200. This takes about twenty minutes, and then the sand is scraped over the eggs 

 again, and the Turtles rush back to the water with all speed. It appears that these wanderers in the 

 great ocean return to the same laying-ground during the breeding season. 



They are caught on shore by being Tipset and turned on their backs, and this is usually clone with 

 stout poles, as well as with the help of the shoulder, and several men may have to join in doing this 

 to a large individual. They rarely are able to turn back again, and are secured by the legs in the mean- 

 while. Sometimes nets are used to catch the smaller ones, and harpooning is also resorted to. 

 But the prime object is to capture the Turtle alive for the markets of the great towns of the world. 



These Edible Turtles have the carapace depressed, broad, and ornamented, with fifteen disc- 

 shaped horny scales, making up the outside shell. Their head is broad, but the muzzle is short and 

 rounded, and the upper jaw has a slight notch in front and small jagged points on the sides. The horny 

 case of the lower jaw (or beak) is formed of three pieces, and the sides are deeply indented. The 

 tympanum is hidden by skin, and there is a nail on the first toe of each foot. 



The tortoiseshell of commerce is the product of the Hawk's-bill Turtle,* and is derived from 

 thirteen overlapping long shields on the carapace. This Turtle does not grow to a great size, and 

 specimens with shells more than two feet long are rare. It is known by the imbricating plates of the 

 carapace, and by the long, compressed, and curved upper jaw, which, with the corresponding front 

 part of the mandible, gives a beak-like look to the front part of the head. It is found in the Indian 

 and Pacific Oceans, and it appears that they lay eggs earlier and are more prolific than the other 

 Turtles. But they are not of value for the table. The young ones have the shell with three keels 

 to it, and all have small horny scales imbedded in the skin of the neck. They are carnivorous, and 

 feed on fish, mollnsca, and Crustacea, and Mr. Moseley states that the pretty green Velellse which float 

 on the surface are its prey in the wide ocean. 



The thin imbricating plates constitute the tortoiseshell of commerce, and much of its value 

 depends upon the manner in which, and the time at which, it is removed from the animal. If taken 

 off when the animal is putrid the tortoiseshell becomes clouded and milky, and hence the cruel 

 expedient is resorted to of suspending the Turtle over fire till the heat makes the shield to start from 

 the bony part of the carapace, after which the creature is allowed to escape to the water.t In Celebes, 

 whence the finest shell is exported to China, the animals are killed by blows on the head, and the 

 carapace is immersed in boiling water to detach the plates. 



The Logger-headed Turtles! are probably of more than one kind. One which frequents the 

 Atlantic and sometimes the Mediterranean Sea is of a brownish or reddish-brown colour, and the 

 middle scales of the carapace have raised crests. Their body is broad in front, and the marginal 

 rim is thin and broad behind. The scales are thin and flexible. There are fifteen vertebral and 

 costal shields, and they are thin, but do not ovei'lap. 



The fore part of the jaws is beaked, but not elongated, and the head is low, broad, and fiat on the 

 top. Their fore feet are larger than those of the other Turtles. It would appear that their habits 

 resemble those of the others, but the powerful beak enables them to crush Mollusca and Crustacea 

 with thick shells. 



* Chdonia (Caretta) squamata. f Tennent : " Natural History, Ceylon," p. 293. J Caouana = Thalassochelys olh-acea. 



