54 WONDERS OF THE DEEP 



is a section of the bow of a whaler impaled by one 

 of these swords. "At one single blow," he says, 

 "the fish had plunged his sword through and com- 

 pletely transfixed thirteen and a half inches of solid 

 timber." 



Turtles and tortoises belong to the same family, 

 but the latter name is usually applied to those that live 

 on the land. Belonging to the reptile class of animals, 

 their chief and characteristic feature is the possession 

 of a very strong, bony shell, or carapace, which en- 

 cases the body, and into which both head and limbs 

 can, in many cases, be completely retracted. Tortoises 

 have normal walking legs, and these fit them for 

 walking on the land or burrowing into the earth. In 

 the True Turtles these limbs assume the form of 

 flattened paddles, and in no instance are more than 

 two of the toes provided with claws. Some of the 

 two hundred known species are adapted for an am- 

 phibious life, that is to say, they can live either on 

 the land or in the water. Some, on the other hand, 

 rarely leave the water during the whole of their 

 existence. 



Turtles are hatched from eggs, the external 

 covering of which differs from that of a bird's egg 

 in being soft and leathery. A hollow is excavated, 

 usually in a sandbank, and in this the egg is deposited, 

 covered up, and left to hatch with the heat of the sun. 

 As soon as the eggs are hatched the young turtles 

 emerge from the sand and instinctively make for the 

 water. The journey down to the water's edge is 

 fraught with many perils to the young turtle, for fish- 



