CROCODILES, TURTLES, AND TORTOISES 111 



its eggs [usually early morning before dawn C. H.], 

 which hatch out in sixty days, and the female is said 

 to come at least twice, at an interval of from a fort- 

 night to a month, to lay in the same place. Like the 

 Green Turtle, the Hawksbill is a vegetarian, feeding on 

 Alga. The Malays are said to remove the tortoise- 

 shell scales from this animal by laying it back down- 

 wards on an iron plate covered with sand, beneath 

 which a fire is lit. Under the action of the excessive 

 heat the scales peel off, and the wretched animal is 

 returned to the sea again, Malays believing it can grow 

 fresh scales to replace those that have been removed. 



The Logger- Head Turtle, Thalassochelys caretta, is 

 unknown in Sarawak waters, but was found in South 

 Borneo by Dr. Bleeker. 



Of Land and Fresh-water Tortoises there is a whole 

 host in Sarawak, but I have little to say concerning 

 them. The most interesting is perhaps the large Land 

 Tortoise, Testudo emys. One of the commonest, 

 Geomyda spinosa, is found amongst dead leaves, 

 to which, the young ones especially, bear a cryptic 

 resemblance. This concealment is due to the flattened 

 form of the Tortoise and to the fact that the marginal 

 scales of the carapace are produced and sharply 

 pointed, looking like the tips of leaves. Another 

 common species was the Box Tortoise, Cyclemys am- 

 boinensis. One of these was confined for several years 

 in a shallow tub nearly full of water, just outside the 

 taxidermy office in the Museum grounds. This animal 

 presented an example of steady perseverance before 

 which all those mentioned in the works of Samuel 

 Smiles pale into insignificance. Nearly all day and 

 every day, and so far as I know every night, that 



