

LUTH, OB LEATHKUY TUUTl,E.-. 1 >;>>iar|/u<< cwnncco 



This species is remarkable for having no horny plates, the bones of the carapace and 

 plastron being covered with a strong leathery skin, smooth in the adult animal, but 

 covered with tubercles in the young. Along the back run seven ridges, sharp, and slightly 

 toothed in the full-grown Turtle, but bluntly tubercled in the young. The eye is very 

 curious, as the lids are set vertically instead of horizontally, and when the creature opens 

 and shuts its eyes, have a very singular effect. The jaws are very formidable, being 

 sharply edged, deeply scooped with three rounded notches in the front of the upper jaw, 

 so as to form two curved sharply pointed teeth, and the extremity of the lower jaw is 

 strongly hooked. 



The legs of the Leathery Turtle are very long, especially the two fore limbs, which, in 

 a specimen measuring eight feet in total length, were nearly three feet long, and more than 

 nine inches wide. The feet are not furnished with claws, but the toes have a little horny 

 scale at their tips, which take the place of the claws. The general colour of this animal 

 is dark brown, with pale yellow spots, but sometimes the skin is irregularly pied with 

 black and white. 



ANOTHER well-known species of Turtle deserves a passing notice. This is the 

 LOGGEKHEAD TURTLE, or CAOUANE (Caouana caretta), sometimes called the KHINOCEROS 

 TURTLE. 



This fine species has a wide range of locality, being found in the most warm seas. It 

 is extremely powerful, fierce, and voracious, biting with great force, and cutting hard 

 substances without much difficulty. According to Catesby, " the Loggerhead Turtles are 

 the boldest and most voracious of all other Turtles. Their flesh is rank and little sought 

 for, which occasions them to be more numerous than any other kind. They range the 

 ocean over, an instance of which, among many others that I have known, happened the 

 20th of April, 1725, in latitude 30 north, when OUT boat was hoisted out, and a 

 Loggerhead Turtle struck, as it was sleeping on the surface of the water. 



This, by our reckoning, appeared to be midway between the Azores and the Bahama 

 Islands, either of which places being the nearest land it could have come from, or thai 



