400 



CHELONIAN REPTILES. 



surface of the ocean. They appear to be able to sleep in this way, 

 and they also dive very well. At the laying season they leave their 

 habitual haunts and resort to the shores of some desert island to de- 

 posit their eggs in holes which they dig in the sand. During the 

 night they drag themselves on to the beach beyond the line of high 

 tide, and with their fore-fins excavate a cavity about two feet deep, 

 wherein they deposit their eggs in regular ranges, and cover them 

 with sand so carefully as scarcely to leave the smallest trace of their 

 labour. This operation accomplished, they return to the sea. The 

 number of their eggs is very considerable, sometimes as many as 

 two hundred, and the laying is repeated two or three times a \ear. 

 In about fifteen or twenty days, the eggs are hatched, and the 

 young, as yet quite soft' and shell-less, immediately make for the 

 water ; but, before reaching it, they often become the prey of carni- 

 vorous' birds, that seem to await the moment of their 'birth to feast 

 upon them. They have also- to dread voracious fishes and crocodiles, 

 so that comparatively few escape from their numerous enemies. 



The tortoise-shell, so much valued on account of its high polish, 

 semi-transparency, and richly-clouded colours, is obtained from the 

 plates covering the back of the Hawks-bill Turtle (Chelone imbricate), 

 of which a figure is appended (Fig. 332). The flesh of this species 

 is not valued; but there is another (Chelone my das), belonging to 

 the same family, so highly esteemed for the delicacy of its flavour, 

 that great numbers are annually imported from the tropics for the 

 sake of the flesh alone. They are packed one upon another in casks 

 of sea-water, which is changed daily. Both of these species have 

 been taken on the Bristol coast ; but such an occurrence can only 

 be considered rare an 1 accidental. 



FlG. 333. - LEATHER-SACKED TURTLE. 



