82 



TORTOISES AND TURTLES. 



Green Turtle. 



structure; while the limbs form most perfect paddles, capable of propelling the 

 animals with great speed. The head is placed upon the neck in such a manner as 

 to allow of the nostrils being readily raised above the surface of the water for the 

 purpose of breathing, and the nostrils themselves can be hermetically closed by 

 means of a fleshy valve. The three best known species of turtles, which are 

 assigned to two genera, are inhabitants of all tropical and subtropical seas ; one 

 species — the loggerhead — occurring in the Mediterranean, and occasionally wander- 

 ing northwards. 



Widely celebrated as being the source of the far-famed turtle- 

 soup of civic banquets, the green turtle (Chelone mydas) is one of two 

 species belonging to a genus characterised by the presence of four pairs of costal 

 shields on the carapace, and by the persistence of the vacuities between the costal 



and marginal bones of the latter 

 throughout life. The plastron 

 is, moreover, distinguished by 

 the presence of an intergular 

 shield between the two gulars ; 

 while, as in the second genus, 

 there is a row of inframarginal 

 shields between the marginals 

 and the proper shields of the 

 plastron. The skull is of moder- 

 ate size in comparison to the shell, 

 with the sockets of the eyes 

 placed nearly vertically, and 

 separated by a 'broad bar of 

 bone. Such are the characters 

 common to the two species of the 

 typical genus of the family. 

 The green turtle is specially 

 distinguished by its short beak, 

 which is devoid of a hook at the 

 tip, and by the shields of the 

 carapace being in contact by 

 their edges all through life. In 

 the young, the carapace shows a faint median keel ; while its hinder margin is at 

 most but feebly serrated at all ages. Generally there is but a single claw on each 

 paddle, although, in some instances, young specimens also have a claw on the 

 second digit. In colour, the shell of the adult is olive or brown, with yellowish 

 spots or marblings ; while in the young it is uniform dark brown or olive above, 

 and yellow beneath, the limbs being bordered with yellow on the upper surface, 

 and inferiorly yellow with a brown spot near the extremity. The food of the 

 species consists of seaweeds, especially the seawrack, upon which the turtles 

 graze at the bottom of the water, rising occasionally to the surface to breathe. 



Generally rejected as food, the hawksbill turtle (C. imbricata) 

 Ha/wksbill Turtle • 



enjoys thereby no respite from persecution, since it is eagerly hunted 



GREEN TURTLE. 



